The Cities in the Kingdom of God

Wasn't that wonderful? Wow! The good news is I get to speak today. The bad news is I have to follow that.

That was wonderful, isn't it? Oh marvelous. Mr. DeMoor. I think that's the son, not the papa that I knew.

His papa doesn't quite do such a good job, I think.

You owe me one now, don't you, Mr. DeMoor, Sr.

Wonderful, brethren. Thank you for coming in today. A beautiful day as we heard already. I do owe my thanks to Mr. Sexton. I thought he was introducing somebody else, but happened to me be such a gracious gentleman, and he stretches the truth sometimes.

I'm only half here. Somebody told me yesterday, I kind of looked lost, and I said, oh, I don't think I am, but actually I am because my better half is overseas in Scotland with our three sons and our son-in-law, or my three children and our son-in-law. See, I am lost. I don't even know how many kids we have, but anyway.

Our children decided last winter to transfer to Scotland. You know, we don't have a face sight there most years, and I told my wife who is Irish, Scottish, and I said, hon, you've got to go. I just insist on it, and it's one of my better moments. You know what I'm saying?

And then it dawned on me mid-summer. What did I actually say?

But with with a pound of almost two to one exchange and the euro about a four to one exchange, I'll tell you it's tough. It's like taking about four people over there on your budget, so I could get to Bend O.K., but I couldn't accompany my wife over there, but anyway, we're in touch with email, and they're having a very fine feast over there as well.

Well, today, brethren, this subject and some subjects, I think, lend themselves to more of a PowerPoint visual setting, and I try to do some of those things for you today on this subject.

You know, the Bible really does include so many details, brethren. Often we don't see all the details that Jesus Christ has put in there, and He's actually designed a beautiful city, at least in part, we see it from the book of Ezekiel.

He's actually, I think, from the book of Ezekiel, also designed a lot of cities around the world in the kingdom because the master plan, the blueprint, really is in the book of Ezekiel, at least certainly for the temple and the New Jerusalem. And I'm not talking about the New Jerusalem following the third resurrection. I'm talking about the New Jerusalem.

When Jesus Christ returns to this earth and designs a new city where His headquarters, His main opportunity to rule the world where He'll be located, along with many others, and we see the blueprint in the book of Ezekiel, as I've mentioned. So we're going to cover some of those things with you today. The title of the sermon is simply cities of the kingdom slash the New Jerusalem slash the temple.

So we got a lot of scriptures to cover, a lot of interesting points, and I hope you'll find it profitable today.

But I would like to point out, as we go through an interesting study, the world's worst city back a few years ago was Brazzaville Republic of the Congo. And these things changed from time to time because, according to this report, based on personal safety and health, education, economic, social, political structure, many other factors, this sad poor city in the Congo was the worst place to live some years ago.

They had many wars there for over a period of 10 years. A lot of people were killed, unfortunately. The war zone was just five kilometers from the city.

This gentleman, Ahuto, age 41 at that time, noticed what he said about what happened to he and his family.

We had to run for our lives when soldiers attacked our city. People abandoned their businesses, their shops, their homes.

There were 3,500 of us escaping through the forest. We had no food. 11 of us actually died from hunger along the way, and this is just how it was some years ago in Brazzaville, Congo.

Imagine living, though, in cities like this. We say cities, quote-unquote, because these are more of a shanty town than a city, but there are many slums around the world in many cities.

Perhaps you visited them. Perhaps you've had a chance to tour.

Very sad conditions for many living in the world today.

In Lagos, you can expect chaos.

There are gun battles in Bogota. Crime is a curse in Karachi.

Survey by one unit from the United Nations. The capital of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby, has been now named the worst place to live in the world.

Baghdad was not on the list at that time. Well, correction, as of last year, Baghdad is now the world's worst city to live in. This changes from year to year.

You know, it's not something the Chamber of Commerce of any city would want to make the list and say, well, we're the worst place to live or one of the top ten places to live.

Our cities today, as we know, brethren, are really under the perverted rule of Satan and also man's selfish, ignorant, misrule, corruption, greed, crime, pollution. All this brings hurt, unhappiness, destruction, poverty, and a very sad way of life indeed.

Interesting stats, though. Back in 1960, the ten wealthiest nations were 30 times as rich per capita as the ten poorest nations. What a disparity between the haves and the have-nots.

Today, they are 72 times as rich.

And I don't know what the recent stock market fiasco has done to some of these stats, but again, you do have the rich and then you have the poor.

Almost 3 billion people, about half of our world's population, live on less than $2 a day.

Well, that's a cup of coffee to us. Imagine living your entire day on that. Rent, food, utilities, gas, all of that.

1.2 billion live on less than a dollar a day. It's just the way it is. Our cities, our countries, our world.

Now, the average home of the world would be basically take your two-car garage and knock out the windows, take an axe and knock some holes in the roof, and a sledgehammer and knock the floor. If it's got a concrete floor, knock that floor out.

Go back to the dirt, and that's the average home of our world.

And you put a wood-burning stove in it, a lantern, obviously no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and that's the average citizen's home, whether it's in a city or whether it's in the country. It makes no difference. So, of course, Jesus Christ is going to do a magnificent job of changing, restructuring things from top to bottom.

This is out of Foreign Affairs magazine. Humanity is on the move. It's never before. Where are they going? They're going to the city, because the allure of lights, culture, political, all of that is there, and they are often being driven away from the farms because of major crime waves in some nations, and it's hard to farm, and there is a real breakdown now because we see people moving to the cities more and more.

Some 650 million people live in the world's 300 largest cities. Two of the world's cities, Seoul, South Korea, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, each have official populations of more than 10 million people. That's fairly large.

Twenty other cities have populations around 10 million, including Bombay, Jakarta, Karachi. The Tokyo metro area is 35 million.

I really have my doubts that Jerusalem, rather than under the reign of Jesus Christ, will have a population of 35 million or 10 million.

I think it's going to be quite modest by comparison today.

People are flocking to cities of more than a million a week. In developing lands, more than 200 cities have populations over 1 million.

By the year 2015, Nigeria may grow from 25 million, where it is today, 13th largest to the 3rd largest, or rather grow to that 35 million mark.

I mean, it's just immense. The problem is you really can't take care of people like that. That number doesn't work.

Well, is there a better way? Obviously there is. That's Jesus Christ ruling on this earth, the King of Kings and our Lord of Lords, brother.

We're going to go through His rulership as found in Ezekiel, a number of those latter eight chapters, starting in chapter 43.

And we're going to talk about cities. Is there a better way in Jesus Christ ruling from Jerusalem and actually from the new temple that He will build?

Now, one interesting scripture that impacts this study is Isaiah 5 and verse 8.

What do them that join house to house and that lay field to field tell there be no more place that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth?

Well, the background of this scripture is interesting because there were greedy people who were buying a lot of land from the Israelites and developing large extensive farms and a lot of large houses or facilities on those lands.

And God took exception to that and had Isaiah write that.

I think overall, brethren, God's way is not join house to house and field to field.

And again, a better way than what we see on this earth.

We're going to cover these scriptures, Millennial City scriptures list, Ezekiel and Isaiah, Micah and Zechariah.

We're going to cover those right now in detail for you.

This is from Ezekiel 36 starting in verse 33.

Well, cities are not wrong. Jesus Christ is going to have their cities rebuilt.

But again, what is a blueprint? Not the way Satan's designed cities or man.

He says in verse 34, In verse 34, the desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by.

So a lot of these cities or villages will be in ruin and desolate because of war and famine and pestilence by the time Jesus Christ comes and really saves man from utter destruction.

And there's verse 35, so they will say, Now, that's not our cities today.

A lot of them don't look that great.

The waste, the desolate, the ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.

Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate.

I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.

So as we go through Ezekiel, we'll see more details about how Jesus Christ will do some of that.

And this scripture is from Zechariah 8, and we'll look at verses 3 through 5.

Thus says, Now, where is Jesus Christ coming to this earth? To Zion.

First of all, the Mount of Olives, we know that from Acts.

But he says, Again, I call it New Jerusalem. It's not going to be the Jerusalem we see today.

Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth, the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, Well, we all know the war-torn history of Jerusalem. It's not very comfortable at times during some of the bombings and wars and terrorist acts that occur pretty regularly there, along with other cities in the Middle East.

Then in Isaiah chapter 30, verses 23 and 24, Then he will give the rain in your seed, for your seed with which you sow the ground, and bread of the increase of the earth.

It will be fat and plentiful in that day your cattle will feed in large pastures.

Well, that's an interesting thought.

Often, brethren, our cattle are not feeding in large pastures today, are they? They're pretty small pastures, feedlots.

We have thousands of them. In fact, we have over 15,000 medium to large livestock feedlots in the United States today.

It's an 80 billion a dollar a year industry, foul-smelling compounds causing respiratory problems, largely unmonitored.

Feedlots, again, are an invention of man.

And it seems that Jesus Christ is going to change that, where in fact our cattle will have natural grazing areas, once again, as they used to.

For thousands of years.

Today, if you get organic beef, you pay the premium. That's a sad thing. You shouldn't have to do that.

Micah chapter 4, verses 3 and 4, notice what Jesus Christ says through Micah.

He shall judge between many peoples and rebuke strong nations afar off, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nations shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken of.

Well, it's a simple way of saying that everyone will have an unencumbered home to call their own.

With some land to grow food and perhaps to graze a few animals, there won't be local warlords or crazed national despots to make these landowners afraid.

All land disputes will be settled by God, perhaps through, again, his ruling family.

This is a beautiful picture of a city village that works. So we extrapolate these two verses. Again, war does not produce wealth for the masses, hence beating your swords into plowshares and your spears into pruning hooks.

When was the last time you saw a sword till a garden?

We waste so much in war. The stability of a healthy economy is based in part on productive land that is owner-occupied.

And that's what we take out of Micah, chapter 4.

Several years ago, the world's three richest individuals were said to have as much wealth among them as the world's 43 poorest countries combined.

I mean, I've read this for, I don't know how many years now, and I still can't believe this stat, but it's true.

Again, there are some elite, wealthy people. Well, that's fine. I mean, God isn't against wealth necessarily, but it's how you obtain that.

But it's so sad that there is such a huge, poor population around our world. Some of you may not read all of this, but these go by 20% increments.

The top richest fifth receive over 80% of the world's income.

And then every line there represents a 20% decrease.

But notice at the bottom, 1.4% of income.

And that's the world's 20, the world's lowest 20%, or 1 fifth.

It's just really, really sad again how the disparity of income and goods are in this world, and that'll be changed by Jesus Christ.

Interesting from history, during the reign of Nero, 54 to 68 AD, roughly 2,000 men owned nearly all the land between the Rhine and the Euphrates.

Things haven't changed that much in the last 2,000 years.

Again, they had their elite, they had their poor.

In 1966, the 447th richest people on earth had assets equal to that of the poorest 2.5 billion, that's 42%, or was at that time, of the world's population.

I mean, stat after stat again shows the disparity.

Well, this won't be allowed in the kingdom.

Jesus Christ will allow all nations, all people to enjoy an abundance as they work and serve God, and they will be blessed.

Well, let's move on a little bit now to why a millennial temple, why a sacrificial system, the kingdom of God.

We actually have very good write-up on this in the United Bible Correspondents' Lessons.

I'm not sure what lesson that is, but it's from the course of the book of Ezekiel.

But yes, there will be, brethren, a millennial temple that Jesus Christ will build, and yes, a sacrificial system.

The book of Hebrews doesn't state that sacrifices can no longer be observed as reminders and picture lessons of what Jesus did.

The sacrificial system in Ezekiel only pictures lessons and reminders of the sin of man.

So it's a reminder as people will gaze upon the temple and be, at least on the property, they will be able to observe the work of Jesus Christ, His atonement for all of mankind, but appreciate that even further as they see the sacrificial system at work.

Now we're going to march through a number of scriptures in the book of Ezekiel.

This is chapter 43, verses 1 and 2.

And afterwards, Ezekiel writes, He brought me to the gate, and the gate that faces toward the east, And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east.

His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with its glory. Well, we do know from other scriptures, and this one, Jesus Christ, is going to be reigning right here.

He's coming from heaven. He's bringing the kingdom here and giving that kingdom to the saints.

In verses 4 through 6, The glory of the Lord came into the temple by way of the gate which faces toward the east.

The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple, and then I heard Him speaking to me from the temple while a man stood beside me.

So Jesus Christ returns them out of olives.

Then, at a later time, following the construction of the millennial temple, He will enter Jerusalem through that east gate, accompanied by the glory of God.

Verse 7, And He said to me, Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever.

No more shall the house of Israel defile my holy name, nor their kings their harlotry with their carcasses of their kings on their high places.

So here we find, brethren, literally Jesus Christ reigning from this locale, this location. My throne will be on this earth and be there in that new temple.

That's where He's going to reign from.

So this is the law in verse 12. This is the law of the temple.

The whole area surrounding the mountaintop is most holy.

Behold, this is the law of the temple. It's a law.

The whole area is holy. Why? Because Jesus reigns from there.

He reigns from there. Where He is, that's holy ground. I apologize if you're way in the back and maybe can't see all of this.

This appeared in our Bible reading program back in February of the year 2004.

Now, there are various interpretations, brethren, of the temple.

We're not going to get rigid on that or dogmatic.

You know, I've seen a number over my lifetime, and you probably have as well.

So we're going to kind of take a general look at some of this. But there is a complex of buildings that occupies a square about 25 acres.

And let's be approximate here and not specific.

It depends again on the cubit, how short or long you want to make the cubit.

The left arrow shows the open courtyard surrounded by buildings, some of which are several stories tall.

The right arrow points to one structure in the middle of the complex that might reach to a height of about a modern-day 25-story building.

Again, you'll see various interpretations of some of chapter 40 if you read enough.

Here's another interpretation, but notice the green space.

While we realize there's a variety of interpretations of chapters 40 through 46, no matter how it might be interpreted, the temple, its surrounding complex, and the green belt, will be very elegant and appealing to the eye.

The altar can be seen in the middle of the complex in more details.

There is a sacrificial altar, the book of Ezekiel mentions.

And green spaces are also mentioned in this book outside of the temple walls.

And then here is the outer wall, and beyond that, of course, again, there's a green space evidently about a half a mile wide on all sides.

And then beyond that, we would say Jerusalem or its suburbs.

Now from chapter 47, verses 1 and 2, the man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the temple faced east.

Something that Ezekiel thought was rather interesting.

Water coming out from the temple itself, from the threshold, the entrance of it, toward the east.

Now of course we know, brethren, that this symbolizes God's Spirit.

This water flowing out from the temple where Jesus Christ resides.

This would be called holy water because, again, the whole area of the law says this is holy.

Now these waters do heal as they migrate from the temple mount, and they're divided, the book of Zechariah chapter 14 mentions, toward the east and the west.

And then we'll notice here, the farther Ezekiel measured the depth of the water, wading across at 1,000 cubit intervals, at 4,000 cubits, around 1.5 miles, or 1.6, from the eastern gate, the river was too deep to wade across.

This is going to be a massive, we could call it an artesian well, for lack of a better term.

But again, this is holy water healing the people, healing the land, as it flows out from the temple around the world.

Verse 12 further illuminates this story.

It says, on the banks of this river, it will grow all kinds of trees for food.

Their leaves will not wither, their fruit will not fail.

You talk about ever-bearing fruit trees.

They will bear fruit every month because their water flows from the sanctuary.

Their fruit will be for food and leaves for medicine.

That's going to be fabulous.

God says that will be the case.

In Zachariah 14, we do see, in fact, major changes ahead in topography in the area of Jerusalem.

Verses 9 and 10.

And the Lord will become king over all the earth.

The whole land will be turned into a plain from Geba, that's six miles northeast of Jerusalem, to Ramon, about 35 miles southwest, south of Jerusalem.

But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site. So there will be an outcropping of Jerusalem, thrusting it up, and then the area of the land is flowing in a plain around it.

We do feel, and I think it's the case, Jerusalem will be the highest point on the earth, at least I think there's some evidence of that, and evidently, again, speculation, but the temple could be the highest point, Mount Zion it says, and people flowing up to it in the book of Isaiah, the highest point on the earth.

It makes sense because Jesus Christ rules from there the pinnacle of the world's attention.

In Ezekiel 45 and verse 1, And moreover, when you divide the land by lot into inheritance, and now this is going to get a little detailed, folks, and this is probably why we don't read these portions of Scriptures too often, because it's hard to picture, but again, we're going to try to map this out here with some more diagrams in a few minutes.

This, first of all, is talking about a district for the Lord, a holy section of the land. Its length is 25,000 cubits, almost 10 miles, and the width is around 4 miles, and it shall be holy throughout all its territory.

So we're going to see this in a diagram shortly.

Verse 2 continues, Now of this there shall be a square plot for the sanctuary, 500 by 500 rods with 50 cubits.

Now notice the details.

These Scriptures have been there thousands of years.

Again, the blueprint, the outline of this temple, and to a degree, New Jerusalem, the literal one on this earth, is there and has been there in the Scriptures for a very long time.

So this district, 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 wide, again, he says the most holy place.

Verse 4, The minister is the sanctuary who came come near to minister to the Lord, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.

Well, these are very practical instructions because they're going to be housing there for the priests.

So it's a holy district.

We saw that from the Scriptures, verses 1 through 4.

Verse 5 continues, Notice in the yellow 20 chambers as a possession.

Chambers can be translated towns or cities, and is translated that way in the NIV, NIS, and New Revised.

Now these could refer then to small towns with our surrounding pasture lands or acreages for gardens, small pastures, or other areas.

So again, this is adjacent to the district for Jesus Christ.

The same area, size-wise, belongs to the Levites who serve in the temple.

Verse 6 continues, You shall appoint as the property of the city an area, and we read this early, the same circumference 25,000 wide and 10,000 feet long, cubits long, adjacent to the district of the holy portion, it shall belong to the whole house of Israel.

So this portion belongs to all of Israel.

The prince shall have a portion on one side.

And we're going to talk about the prince shortly, who he might be.

And verse 6 continues, it talks about some village commons there.

This area is ceded to the public, assuring that all the city dwellers have access to Jesus Christ the king at all times.

So again, a lot of details, fabulous things to think about, and have that vision.

Now, this is where it's going to get interesting, because you put all this together, and you do see the Levites portion, the temple complex, and then at the very low part, you also see the Lord is there, the city, Jerusalem.

Now, this is the Levite portion that we read earlier.

Again, they're having to serve there at the temple area.

Now, what is so interesting to me from this section of Ezekiel, brothers, what is in the middle of this complex that we just read about?

What's in the middle?

The temple.

Now, why is that? Because Jesus Christ is a focus of all the earth.

His temple won't be a minor edifice.

It won't be shoved off to an area where you can't see it.

But again, you're going to flow up to Mount Zion, and the temple will be the focus of this entire area.

Again, we saw earlier, Jesus Christ lives there. He resides there. He administers the world as the king.

Some of the arrows just point to, again, the length and the width, 25,000 cubits by 10,000.

This is the priest portion, as we read, and then the temple area itself.

And then this is the city. We'll talk more about the city.

But the city is very close to the temple.

And again, redesigned, focused, again, on God's way of balance, beauty, a quality place to live.

There is a tribal portion, and as the red arrow at the top on the right talks about the tribal portion of land flowing away from Mount Zion in all directions, according to Ezekiel, and the prince's land. Do you see that on the right? The prince's land is also mentioned.

Now, the temple is right here where Jesus Christ dwells in the center of the city complex. Traditionally, brother, what would be in a small town decades and decades ago? What generally was in the middle of the town complex or square?

Well, you'd have maybe a city hall, but you'd have a church or churches.

Today, churches have been replaced by sports stadiums and shopping malls, recreation areas. People don't flow into the city to worship. They flow in the city to have fun.

And here, this new design, the very middle, the major portion is going to be the temple where Jesus resides.

So we're going to see a change in terms of the complex, the design.

Isaiah 2, verse 3, mentions, Many people shall come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. What house? Well, a temple. That's His structure. That's His house. He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

And verse 4, He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Again, because this is a violation of God's law of not murdering. And you're going to be able to take all that energy and that force and resources and turn them into good. Of course, Jesus Christ is going to be spirit, but He could manifest Himself at any time into flesh and blood in order to interface with the human family.

Now, further into Ezekiel 48 and verses 15 and 16, just the underlying portion, it says, The common use of the city for houses, for pasture land, the city will be in the center of it. And there's measurements there.

The city would be approximately 1.8 square miles, if we understand, again, what a cubit might be. That would be the design. That would be the overall architecture of it, in terms of space and size. Now, the open land, therefore, would be around 500 feet. The pasture land for the city will be 250 cubits on each side.

Again, we can call that a green belt, a garden belt, various uses in that sense. And it's interesting to me that the practical part of this, it says in the midst there, verse 18, its produce will supply food for the workers of the city. So this section is going to be a very productive region, beautiful land, beautiful earth, organic soil, we might say, producing food for the workers. One thing we do today, we do it great. We produce a lot of food in the San Joaquin Valley of California, and we ship it around the country, if not around the world, within hours.

And now we're talking about carbon imprint, how that leaves imprint with jet engines in the atmosphere and certainly in the air. It appears you're going to have locally grown food. You're not going to be able to, or desire to, transport long distances, again, because of quality the taste suffers, and it just simply takes a lot of energy, takes a lot of time.

Now verse 19 says, the workers from the city who farm it will come from all sides of, or all the tribes of Israel. The entire portion will be a square. Going back to our diagram earlier, that's what we have just outlined there. Israel's portion in a garden space, or spaces outside of the city, limits. Maybe in the suburb area. Let's go back to the temple for a few minutes.

Three gateways are outlined in Ezekiel to the outer court on the north, the east, and the south. Three gates, though, also are found inside the walls. There they are. So again, a bird's-eye view of what the temple area might look like overall.

And obviously having access for people to come in there and visit and enjoy. There is also an Ezekiel gates, as we saw, but also a lower payment. These are separate rooms around the walls, maybe around 30 of them. They may be for, of course, use of the temple area, those working there on those sides of the temple. Perhaps because there are, of course, wonderful musicians and singers, as we already heard today and during the feast, singers in the inner court, rehearsal rooms for the priests. So it's going to be a working temple from all instruction or guidance from the Scripture, an altar work day after day, rotating shifts even throughout the year, based on perhaps 1 Chronicles with the courses of the Levites in the Old Testament.

Well, I want to go back, though, to the diagram about that outer wall. You see it there with that one red arrow, the horizontal one. There are indications, though, in Ezekiel 42, verses 15 through 20, there will be a large wall area, 1.2 miles square, around the entire complex. This gives us a buffer zone of about a half a mile between the outside wall of the temple and the walls around the grounds.

Now, doesn't that make sense, rather than instead of having building upon building and land upon land, beautiful green area around the temple area, and then, of course, the suburbs and the New Jerusalem. Ezekiel 44, verses 1 through 3, Ezekiel writes, He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east, and it was shut.

And the Lord said to me, This gate shall remain shut. It shall not be opened, and no one shall enter into it. For the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. Only the prince, because he is a prince, may sit in it to eat food before the Lord. And he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.

So this prince, no one else, but this prince is allowed to enter the eastern gate complex through the porch area and to eat certain ceremonial meals with the Lord. What a fascinating detail. Well, to me, brethren, this shows how intimately Jesus Christ will be involved in running the temple complex, running Jerusalem, and indeed, the entire world. But, of course, we're being trained. All of God's people have been trained in their generations to serve under Christ in some capacity in the kingdom.

Well, who is this prince? He cannot be Jesus Christ because, as we see, the prince makes sin offerings for himself. That's in chapter 45, verses 21 and 22. So he's not Jesus Christ. And it doesn't fit David either, because he is going to be in the spirit family of God. Some would speculate, oh, that's King David. I don't think so. So who is the prince? Well, he has natural children.

Ezekiel 46, verse 16 says that his sons, and shall be their possession by inheritance. So probably he's a human leader, a human being, a human leader, a civil leader, possibly the highest human ruler at that time, and perhaps from the house of David. God doesn't specify much for us, but we do know he is a human being having natural children, and yet being allowed to have meals with Jesus Christ. Well, the city is about three miles south of the temple complex, according to the book of Ezekiel, three gates on each side of the city, as we saw earlier.

Now, I put this together. It may not make a lot of sense. We're talking about two miles square approximately, or 1.8 miles square. There's the northern gates, the eastern gates, the western gates, and the southern gates. Of course, there are twelve tribes of Israel, and there are three gates on each side, so you've got three gates named then after those tribes.

And notice the name of the city. The Lord is there. Jehovah Shema. So Jerusalem's going to get a new name. It may mean the city of peace now, but the name will be the Lord is there. Jehovah Shema.

Well, it's Emple Center from Ezekiel 37. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them, and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever. This is very comforting, brethren, that Jesus Christ is going to be in our midst. We need Him. We can't survive without Him. We're showing that in our history every day of our world. Verse 27, My tabernacle also shall be with them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people. The nations also will know that I the Lord sanctify Israel when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore. So Jesus Christ is serious about building, rather, a family, a world, the kingdom, and He's going to have a new city and a new temple, and He will rule from there the way of God, the way of love, and the laws of God that will be promulgated from Mount Zion for all nations and all people.

Now, applied social science, that really is what the book of Ezekiel is. It's a very practical book of how people should live and how cities, perhaps, would be designed in the kingdom. All people would be given a fair inheritance in the land. Ezekiel describes in great detail how the land will be divided until everyone will have a fair portion. So land is valuable. Land allows us, brethren, to have food and stability. And, of course, to have a house, to have roots, to begin a community, and really to begin a kingdom that way.

That's true for all nations. All nations will be blessed. All nations will have prosperity as they follow God and submit to Him. The book of Nehemiah 11.25 adds a little bit to the picture. For as the villages with their fields, some of the children of Judah dwelt in Kurjah, Arba, and its villages. Well, villages with their fields is a very interesting phrase. Villages with fields. Often, we don't have fields. We don't have a chance to have gardens and enjoy some orchards and green space like God intends.

But in Nehemiah's time, that was the case. Five acres are needed to sustain five people. And a proposed model, a plan of five cities was surrounding farmland and natural green areas. Here we have small villages, small towns, their suburbs, each city having a king, or perhaps a king having five cities, or ten cities. But the proximity is close. They can transport things. They can make things for surrounding areas, surrounding people, based on their talents, their desire, the need for various foods and equipment.

Of course, I'm not implying at all we'll not have a high-tech society. I think we will in the kingdom. But we're talking here about what Ezekiel writes today. And again, that communication, family life, togetherness, very easy. Oops, went a little fast. But open spaces is what Isaiah 5 and verse 8 mentions. Again, going back to something we read earlier. What are those who joined house to house, and they had field to field, and there's no place where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land. So often cities today, they're jam-packed.

We have rush hour. We have non-rush hour. It's just rushed. So Ezekiel talks about the blend of the best qualities of the city. Again, though, not breaking God's law. Cities with people dwelling, committing their lives to God.

And then countryside. Beautiful green spaces. Millennial cities will have the model of land distributed between city, suburb, agricultural, and natural areas. Obviously, brethren, there's a lot left that we don't know about in terms of maybe just energy itself. How will we have energy in the kingdom? I've struggled with that one for a very long time. And we could debate that back and forth, but there's a lot of interesting energy technologies on the horizon.

Even as we enter the 21st century, perhaps Jesus Christ will take some of those. Perhaps he won't. Perhaps Jesus Christ will invent something entirely new and unheard of for energy without polluting and how-to cars and trucks transport people and goods without hurting the environment. Well, Jesus Christ, of course, has all those answers for us. Ecological beauty and balance will figure heavily in the planning of these millennial cities. Well, we know, brother, that prosperity alone won't convert people.

Again, we have this super-rich. That doesn't convert people. It will have to be, of course, people identifying with God person to person or from one individual to the other with God, identifying with Him, and repenting, having relationship with God. So all the beautiful cities in the kingdom themselves, that won't convert people. Yes, it will show God's law and action that it works, but people will have to convert and they will have to want to have Jesus Christ in their lives as their Savior.

Of course, all cities will have churches, congregations, by the hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands, and beyond that, even in the kingdom, churches, yeah, maybe on every corner as they're needed. Well, brethren, from the old cities of today, and there's just a lot of them, huge, overpopulated, polluted, crime-ridden, war-torn, debt-ridden, here we have California wanting how many billion cities needing help? Well, Jesus Christ has the answers. We're not going to waste anything for war and for inefficiency.

So instead of cultural, ethnic, ghettos, and engendering strife, there will be a respect and appreciation for all people and a value system based on God's law, God's way in action. And it does work. We go from the old cities of this world to the new cities and the kingdom of God. Brethren, there's no city today on earth that can really picture what the millennial cities of God will be like. You just can't really find one. Now, of course, we have beautiful cities.

I'm not implying that. We have beautiful homes and all of that. But again, just totally God's way? No. Not yet. Jesus Christ will have to usher that in when He comes. So Jesus Christ will be that loving, wise ruler giving us the solutions, the answers that we have really needed for so long and a veritable paradise for the human family. That's why we pray for it. Now, those of you who are really good with digital photographs have simply pasted this, you see.

But one big, beautiful garden, and I really think Ezekiel shows the beautiful spaces that are going to be a part of the New Jerusalem on this earth, or the Lord is there as the new name is, and a chance to have some gardens and livestock in the proper ratio, very close to the city area where it's needed for food. Ezekiel 48, verse 35, all the way around shall be 18,000 cubits, and the name of the city from that day shall be, the Lord is there, Jehovah Shammah. So that's a new name of this beautiful city. Again, the headquarters, the very center of the spiritual world, we could say, in the kingdom of God on this earth, Jesus Christ, Mount Zion in the temple, and having that city just a few miles away, and having its suburbs, Jesus Christ again ruling there, and the Lord is there.

What a beautiful picture Ezekiel grants to us.

Well, we know this one by heart. Isaiah 11, the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and the little child shall lead them, and the cow and the bear shall graze, and their young one shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

Well, this only represents, rather than really the change of the human heart. As animal nature has changed, and we can't picture that too well today, but our nature will be changed. We'll be converted from the carnal, selfish, egotistical, sinful way to the mind of God with God's Spirit as we are baptized and repent. But anybody for a 500-pound lion as a pet, I don't know. I can think of a few problems myself, but just the food on something like that would ruin my budget. Alright, here's what Isaiah 11 pictures. Why don't you look closely at this.

Now, of course, this photograph, as all of them virtually are, they're manipulated digitally. I know years ago on the campus, they did hire an animal trainer to bring a lion in with a lamb, and I wasn't there at the time, but I would have liked to see that.

Well, God's training program, brother, is Jesus Christ outlined in the book of Luke, and that's why we're here at this feast, to honor God, to be trained, and learn about His way. Notice in verse 12, therefore He said, a certain nobleman, remember this parable, went into a far country to receive for Himself a kingdom and to return. Well, that's Jesus Christ. The kingdom comes from the Father. God the Father is the Father. He's the Father.

The kingdom comes from the Father. God the Father gives the kingdom to Jesus Christ. And so Jesus Christ will be given that kingdom, and then He says, He returns. Well, that's what we read about today. Jesus Christ is coming. In verse 13, so He called ten of His servants, delivered them ten minas, and said to them, do business till I come. Well, how's your business coming? That's a spiritual business, isn't it? How's your spiritual business doing? Well, thankfully, our spiritual business wasn't on Wall Street the last month. But, you know, spiritually, brethren, it's really unaffected by the economy, by the stock market.

Spiritual life is really important. And that's where it's at. So we've been given that opportunity, that blessing of growing, learning, developing as God's people every day. Then in verse 15, so it was that when He returned, having received the kingdom, then He commanded these servants to whom He had given the money, to be called to them that He might know how much every man had gained by trading. Now again, brethren, this is all the spiritual analogy. How are we doing with the talents, the opportunities, the days, the years that God is giving to us? That's what this piece is about, at least to a part or a degree.

She came to the first saying, Master, your mina has earned ten. And Jesus Christ in this story, this parable said, well done, good servant, because you are faithful in very little, have authority over ten cities. Now we know the parable goes on, five cities, yes, one city, yes, and the person has said, well, you know, I knew you were a hard taskmaster, I just didn't do anything with it, and Jesus Christ was not happy with that at all.

So here we are, brethren, being trained to rule and under Christ in the kingdom over cities, people, serving, caring for them. And what a job that will be. But you will be spirit and have the mindset of God and God's character. But that character is being built today. That is up to us. That is turning our lives over to God and having God to bless us and teach us. Well, the dawning of a new age.

We've read about that today in the book of Ezekiel, the kingdom of God, age, we could call it. Do you have that vision? Is that alive in you? Does it stir you? Well, it should.

Revelation 19 verse 7 says, let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory. And I can hardly read that on my laptop. For the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready. Well, brethren, that's our job right now, to make ourselves ready as part of the church of God, the beautiful church of God that Jesus Christ gave His life for. So have a good rest of the feast. Think about the cities. Think about your part in it, brethren. Think about your development. Think about growing. Think about overcoming. That's what we need to be about, our Father's business.