{"id":1140,"date":"2018-07-31T12:26:59","date_gmt":"2018-07-31T20:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1140"},"modified":"2018-07-31T12:26:59","modified_gmt":"2018-07-31T20:26:59","slug":"devotion-revelation-219-13-our-heavenly-home-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1140","title":{"rendered":"Devotion Revelation 21:9-13 Our Heavenly Home Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Revelation 21:9-13\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues\u00a0came and said to me, \u201cCome, I will show you the bride,\u00a0the wife of the Lamb.\u201d\u00a010\u00a0And he carried me away\u00a0in the Spirit\u00a0to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.\u00a011\u00a0It shone with the glory of God,\u00a0and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.\u00a012\u00a0It had a great, high wall with twelve gates,\u00a0and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.13\u00a0There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west.\u00a014\u00a0The wall of the city had twelve foundations,\u00a0and on them were the names of the twelve apostles\u00a0of the Lamb.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cOn the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0But who are the twelve tribes of Israel (Jacob)?\u00a0 According to\u00a0Genesis 35:23-26, Exodus:1-4\u00a0<\/b>and\u00a0Chronicles 2:1-2<\/b>\u00a0the twelve tribes of Israel are the twelve sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulon, Joseph, and Benjamin.\u00a0 Israel also adopted Joseph\u2019s first two sons (Ephraim and Manasseh) that were born to him before Israel came to Egypt to see that his beloved Joseph was still alive.\u00a0 Israel did that so that these two could also receive an inheritance from Israel (Genesis 48:3-22<\/b>).\u00a0 So the sons of Israel increases from twelve to fourteen.\u00a0 Levi was not to receive the land inheritance.\u00a0 Since He was the priest of the Israelites to God, their inheritance were the offerings by fire to the Lord (Joshua 13:14<\/b>).\u00a0 Ephraim and Manasseh were what was sometimes called they half tribes.\u00a0 So, since Joseph also got his full inheritance, the tribe of Joseph basically got a double portion.\u00a0 So the tribes who receive territory in the promised land were Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh. The twelve tribes of Israel listed as part of the one hundred forty-four thousand in\u00a0Revelation 7:4-8<\/b>\u00a0does not include either Dan or Ephraim.\u00a0 We can be sure that John was well aware of who were the natural and adopted sons of Israel and we can be sure that he accurately recorded what he heard.\u00a0 He heard the names from an angel that had the seal of the living God.\u00a0 So God gave the names that were going to come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord and be part of the one hundred forty-four thousand.\u00a0 Here in Revelation 21 it is not specified which tribes will have their names written on the gates of Israel.\u00a0 Will it be the list from the Old Testament scriptures listed above?\u00a0 Or will it be the names listed in Revelation 7?\u00a0 It would seem most likely to be the list given in Revelation 7.<\/p>\n

There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0Commonly the cardinal directions are referred to in order as North, East, South and West.\u00a0 Here they are referred to as East, North, South and West.\u00a0 In the Bible the East seems to have sometimes represented safety and security as that Garden of Eden was in the East (Genesis 2:8<\/b>).\u00a0 Israel is in the East.\u00a0 However it could be said it represented a condition of alienation as it was the direction of travel after exile from Eden (Genesis 3:24, 11:2-4<\/b>).\u00a0 It sometimes represented danger (Psalm 48:7<\/b>).\u00a0 The North symbolized permanent or eternal.\u00a0 Perhaps because the polar stars were permanently visible?\u00a0 Also the North was considered the direction of the God\u2019s celestial dwelling (Isaiah 14:13 (<\/b>NKJV & ESV), Job 37:22<\/b>).\u00a0 However like the East, the North, represented by the left hand (If one faces the East the North is on the left) could be a symbol of disaster.\u00a0\u00a0Jeremiah 1:14<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0Ezekiel 38:6\u00a0<\/b>relates that disaster and enemies are poured out of the North. The South is primarily represented as negative.\u00a0 Yet, it is represented by the right hand which is positive.\u00a0 A negative is to the South of Israel was wilderness, where not much prospered.\u00a0 To the South was Egypt that opposed God\u2019s power and oppressed His people. \u00a0But is also the place from which God used Moses to set His people free.\u00a0 The West, likewise seems to have both positive and negative representations.\u00a0 To the West was the sea, which represented evil and death (Daniel 7:2-3<\/b>). In\u00a0Numbers 3:23<\/b>\u00a0the word translated here as West, or westward, comes from an unused root that has a meaning sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, or the dead Sea.\u00a0 More specifically, the roaring sea.\u00a0 Considering the \u201croaring sea\u2019 it would be easy how the people of that time thought the sea, which was West of them, to be something frightening and foreboding.\u00a0 However, Jonah was swallowed by a creature from the sea and brought back from the dead, as it was, to life by the grace of God.<\/p>\n

Wondering out loud, think first to the East where man\u2019s beginnings on earth are found.\u00a0 Look next to the North where that represents the celestial dwelling of God.\u00a0 Next to the South that brings us the remembrance that when eyes are not on God then correction comes.\u00a0 But correction and deliverance came from God who both corrects in love and delivers in love.\u00a0 To the West is a place of unknown and to those who do not look to God, a scary place.\u00a0 Yet, in the end, God delivers all who respond to His love.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wall of the city had twelve foundations,\u00a0and on them were the names of the twelve apostles\u00a0of the Lamb.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 Jesus is the cornerstone (Isaiah 28:16, Psalm 118:22, Zechariah 10:4, Matthew 21:42, 1 Peter 2:6-7<\/b>) on which the foundation is anchored.\u00a0 It is appropriate that the names of the Apostles are on the foundation as it is Jesus as the cornerstone and rock that they taught us (1 Corinthians 3:11<\/b>).<\/p>\n

God acknowledges all faithfulness and obedience even though it is only by His power and His enabling that they are done.\u00a0 It is the epitome of being humbled to receive a reward from God.\u00a0 It seems impossible to conceive.\u00a0 All we are, all we shall be, all we have done, are all from the goodness and love of God.\u00a0 But oh, how wondrous will be the day, how we long for it, when we shall acknowledge in person what we now know, and then will fully realize, that all good that comes to us and that we do, begins in the mind and heart of God.\u00a0 Oh what a day to see and worship God in person!\u00a0 Praise God!\u00a0 Family that is the day that our hope disappears and the reality of eternity with God becomes tangible.\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Revelation 21:9-13\u00a0–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues\u00a0came and said to me, \u201cCome, I will show you the bride,\u00a0the wife of the Lamb.\u201d\u00a010\u00a0And he carried me away\u00a0in the Spirit\u00a0to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[2453,129,1477,2257,705,1865,103,99,1849,2186,101,1874,90,17,2347,2502],"class_list":["post-1140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-chronicles","tag-corinthians","tag-daniel","tag-exodus","tag-ezekiel","tag-genesis","tag-isaiah","tag-jeremiah","tag-job","tag-joshua","tag-matthew","tag-numbers","tag-peter","tag-psalm","tag-psalm-micah","tag-revelaton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1141,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140\/revisions\/1141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}