God’s Holy Word speaks of three spheres of blessing. They are the Earth, the New Jerusalem and the Upon-heavenlies. Genesis 1:2 says that God created the heavens and THE earth. While heavens are plural, there is only one earth. God’s plan for His earth centers around His creation of His chosen people, Israel. In Romans 9:3-5, we see that to them pertain “the adoption”, “the glory”, “the covenants”, “the giving of the law”, “the service of God”, “the promises”, “the fathers”, and “of whom Christ came. The Jews look for his parousia to assume the kingship of the whole earth from Jerusalem. Revelation 20 gives us information on this, as well as the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures. Luke 22:29-30 speaks of the twelve apostles as sitting “on thrones” and “judging” “the twelve tribes of Israel”. Matthew speaks of this as “the regeneration”. Acts speaks of this as “the times of refreshing” from “the presence of the Lord”
The New Jerusalem is different from the city of Jerusalem found in Revelation 20. It is a heavenly city coming from above down to earth. Rev. 21:10. It is the city referred to in Galatians 4:26 as “from above”. It is the sphere of a special family of believers who have been faithful. They are beyond the faithful earthly people, but their destiny is not in the upon heavenlies. The faithful Hebrews 11 people are seeking this destiny. Hebrews says that they seek a “country”. In verse l6, it says, “God…prepared for them a city.” In verse 10 it speaks of Abraham looking “for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God”. Scholars, when examining the dimensions of the city as found in Rev. 21:12-21 are wont to compare this with a present day country so there is no discrepancy between the “city” and “country” appellation. Who are the people who are its inhabitants? They were looking for “the promise”,( Heb. ), and their names are written in “the Lamb’s Book of Life”. Is this the same book as Rev. 20:12?
“En tois epouraniois” is the English transliteration of the Greek words which literally mean, “in the upon-heavenlies”. This phrase is found only in the book of Ephesians. It is found five times: Eph. 1:3 tells where the blessings are for these believers. Eph speaks of where the work was wrought, and where the Head is. Eph. 2:6-7 should be considered together. This speaks of the location of the Body. Eph. speaks of the major realm of testimony for the Church who is His Body. This truth deserves very serious meditation. Eph. speaks for the area of battle and the type of warfare with which the Body is engaged. The last seven epistles of Paul speak of the Church who is His Body. They characterize that group and outline its destiny. This is spoken of as “The Mystery” because it was indeed a mystery not revealed by any but the Apostle Paul until the last administration of God’s plan of the ages.
Truth for Today
Through our paper and this website, we make available the writings of Bible teachers such as Dr. E. W. Bullinger, Mr. Charles H. Welch, Mr. Stuart Allen, and other men of God who have lived and labored faithfully, honoring the Lord's command in II Timothy 2:15 and Philippians 1:10 to "Rightly Divide" the Word of Truth.
