Last week we addressed the fact that when the disciples were walking with Christ while He was upon the earth, they were walking in the salvation of the Old Testament. On the day of Pentecost when they received the Holy Spirit, they were born again and converted to the salvation of the New Testament.

It was then that the disciples entered into the REAL city of God which is the HEAVENLY Jerusalem as the writer of Hebrews said…

Hebrews 12:22
But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

The Heavenly Jerusalem is the spiritual Jerusalem. Anything that is heavenly, or from above, is spiritual. Paul tells us about the heavenly Jerusalem in his letter to the Galatians.

Galatians 4:26
 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

The spiritual Jerusalem, which is the real Jerusalem, is our spiritual mother. Just as we have a natural mother and a natural father, so we also have spiritual parents. In the spiritual reality, it also requires a mother and a father to bring forth a child.

 We know that God is our Father and that we are not illegitimate children spiritually. Therefore our mother can be identified as the bride of Christ. Ephesians 5 gives us a clear picture of the spiritual union that Christ has with His bride, the Church. We also find this in Revelation 21…

Revelation 21:2
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

While there are many looking to the future to bring the new Jerusalem, we can clearly see that the new Jerusalem came from God out of Heaven about 2000 years ago when the Church came forth. Hebrews 12 also affirms that the heavenly Jerusalem, our mother, is the Church of God.

Hebrews 12:23
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

The heavenly Jerusalem, is the Church of the firstborn. Our mother is the Church of God, the general assembly. Christ and His bride, the Church, were joined together on the day of Pentecost and you and I, the children of God, are the offspring of that union.

You may have also noticed that the Church of God is described as the general assembly. When the Holy Spirit entered into the hearts of believers on the day of Pentecost, two houses were made into one general assembly. What were the two houses?

Those that were living according to the law and died in the time of the Old Testament were part of the natural Jerusalem or the natural nation of Israel. They could not yet enter into the heavenly Jerusalem which is the spiritual nation of Israel. We will understand why that is later.

When we are born again according to the salvation of the New Testament (the only salvation available today) we are made part of the heavenly Jerusalem. We saw before that when the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost they were made part of the heavenly Jerusalem.

So the law made the adherents part of natural Israel, while the blood of Christ makes us part of the spiritual Israel.

You may remember that the law of the Old Testament was a token to allow them to be partakers of the New Testament salvation when it was to come. On the day of Pentecost, the New Testament was given. Those that died under the Old Testament were able to hand in their token and be partakers of the New Testament salvation and thereby members of the New Jerusalem.

Those that were under the Old Covenant and those that are under the New Covenant are joined into one group – the general assembly. On the day of Pentecost the two groups were made one when their hearts were made perfect.

The hearts of the Old Covenant believers could not be made perfect while living under the Old Covenant.

Hebrews 10:1
For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

The law could not make them perfect. Once again, the law served as a token. However when the New Covenant was ushered in, the hearts of the Old Covenant believers were made perfect. This happened after Calvary.  It could only happen after Calvary because it is only the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that can make a person pure.

Colossians 1:22-23
²² In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
²³ If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

The death and the resurrection of Christ is the gospel. It was through His death and resurrection that we may be presented holy and unblameable and unreprovable. No heart could be made perfect before Christ’s death. This perfection took place on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost was given.

To understand the reality of the ordinances in the New Covenant we must realise that Christ shed His blood to bring the house of the Old Covenant and the house of the New Covenant TOGETHER.

Ephesians 2:10-12
¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
¹¹ Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
¹² That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

In these verses Paul is explaining that the Gentiles were alienated from God’s people and were without God because they did not live under the law.

Ephesians 2:13-15
¹³ But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
¹⁴ For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
¹⁵ Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

Now we can see that through the blood of Christ souls were saved and “made nigh” unto God and His people. The law of ordinances was abolished and there is no longer a wall separating the circumcised from the uncircumcised. Christ made IN HIMSELF one new man out of two and in so doing, He made peace.

He made in Himself – that is, in His body – one man, or ONE BODY. By bringing down the middle wall of partition, two groups were joined together with Christ to form the body of Christ which is the Church of God.

Ephesians 2:16-18
¹⁶ And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
¹⁷ And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
¹⁸ For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

When that middle wall of partition was brought down, all were given access to the Father by one Spirit.

I believe Paul was using the symbolism of the tabernacle and later the temple. The middle wall of partition refers to the veil between the holy place and the holy of holies. This veil is a symbol of the blood of Jesus Christ.

It was through the shedding of the blood of Christ that the veil was rent in two. As the veil was rent, natural Israel gained entry into the holy of holies. What a beautiful picture we have here of power in the blood of Jesus Christ!

Many people are taught the two rooms of the tabernacle represent two groups of people in the Church – those that are justified and those that are sanctified. How sad it is that many teach a divided Church as they use the tabernacle to depict two groups of people in the Church separated by a veil.

I ask you, how can this be correct when the Word of God tells us that at Christ’s death the veil was rent in two? The division between the two rooms was removed and from two separate rooms there is now one.

The Spirit of God which was once separated from the people by a curtain, was released that He might fill the tabernacle, the Church of God, the hearts of the pure. All those that are in the tabernacle of God have the Spirit of God abiding with them and in them.

This is what happened on the day of Pentecost. The Spirit of God descended upon those in the upper room, filling them and giving them power from above.  It was then that the Church was born.

Saints, it is important that we understand that When Christ died on the cross, He abolished the law of ordinances, that we would no longer live under the law. His plan was that He would have a spiritual people unto Himself. His will and purpose was not for us to live according to the law of the flesh with ordinances and circumcisions, but that we would live by the Spirit of Christ.

It is no longer adherence to a law of outward ceremonies, feasts and cleansings that separates God’s people from the world, but it is the abiding Spirit of God that separates the child of God from the child of the world. It is no wonder that today, in the dispensation of the New Covenant, He says…

Romans 8:9
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Filed under: Category The Daily Desk | Tags: by Gil Reitsma