Looking for Our Mother, New Jerusalem

The old hymn goes: “When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory.”

[The song comes to a screeching stop. And this newsflash cuts through the ether of our minds: Heaven is coming to earth. The capital of the Kingdom of Heaven, the New Jerusalem, the city built by God and not man, is coming to earth, along with its King.]

And this spectacular city will come down out of heaven and land right over the current geographical location called the Holy Land. This is what makes that piece of real estate “holy” in the pure sense of the word. It has been set apart for the landing zone when the heavenly Jerusalem comes down from above.

So we should be singing about this city. We should be singing about how the New Jerusalem will get to us here on earth, not us getting to heaven.

Yes, I know that when we die, our spirits return unto God who gave it to us. Our present earthly vessels will wither and turn to dust as we await His glorious appearing and return to earth. For when He returns, He has promised that His faithful will receive a new incorruptible spiritual body (I Cor. 15: 42-45, 52).

The Unseen City

The Spirit admonishes us to look “at the things which are not seen.” Why? Because the material physical world is temporary. Sensory gratification lasts but a moment. So we should seek for the invisible eternal things (II Cor. 4: 18). We should seek those things that only faith-filled eyes can see.

New Jerusalem fulfills this. It is invisible and eternal and holy and righteous. It is “the city of the great King.” It is the city that Abraham sought. “For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11: 9-10). God called and chose him out to start a new nation of human beings that would be His spiritual offspring. These faithful few God protects, “for He has prepared for them a city” (11: 16).

And God gave this real estate, this holy piece of ground, to Abraham and to his seed after him. “I will give unto thee…the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God” (Gen. (17: 8). There. Abraham knew that the  Holy Land was special to God, and he knew that God had given it to him and his children. But all he saw were hostile people and barren rocky land.

We talk of the faith of Abraham. Well, this is it. This is where it started. He looked for the New Jerusalem, and he knew that the land God promised to him was the landing zone! This is why wars rage on and on over Jerusalem. This is where the New Jerusalem will set down.

The True Bride of Christ

New Jerusalem is “the bride, the Lamb’s wife” (Rev. 21: 9). Let’s stop and meditate on this simple statement. This heavenly city is Christ’s bride, the Lamb’s wife. There is only one Lamb, and that is Christ. I think we all can agree on that. New Jerusalem is His bride or wife.

I know. We were taught that the church is the “bride of Christ.” The above refutes that very plainly. This false doctrine clouds the meaning of this passage about New Jerusalem: “But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all” (Gal. 4: 26).

Now, to be a mother, one must give birth to sons and/or daughters. The heavenly city New Jerusalem is our mother. We are her children. The “Jerusalem which is above” gave birth to us. We are not the “bride.” We are children of the Father and New Jerusalem. This is why Christ said, “Except a man be born again [born from above in the Greek], he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3: 3). We are born out of the matrix of the Father’s Spirit working through New Jerusalem. This is why we should be seeking our spiritual mother New Jerusalem. That is our roots. That is our home. And that heavenly city, prepared for His faithful followers, will be our eternal home after it touches down right over the Holy Land.

Now these passages make more sense: “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col. 3: 2). And, “Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” Which “land”? Revelation time: The Holy Land, the land that God has given us, the land that is the “landing zone” for the New Jerusalem coming down from above. Thank you, Father. You are wonderful.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Agape Love—The Last Addition to the Faith

Life and its meaning boils down to one thing—love. Without love hearts petrify into parched limestone. Without love man’s tears become empty waterless mirages. When man cares not for others, he becomes a deserted island where no fresh water runs into the salty sea.

Our reality, our dreams, and our destinies hinge on love. But this is no ordinary Eros love, which is the fleshly romantic love seared in lust. Neither is it man’s love. No. This is agape love, the love that comes from above, not beneath. This love is the beating heart of God our Creator and Savior. “God is love.” And it is this love that gives, forgives, and has mercy on human beings. We are talking love that is the “divine nature.”

God’s purpose in our existence is not just to show His love to us; rather it is to love others through us. It is all about “Love from above—down and through.” His plan is profoundly simple, and yet impossible to fulfill in mankind’s first estate of sinful selfishness.

We have a very important part to play in His purpose, which is this: God is in the process of reproducing Himself in human beings. Since He is agape love, He is reproducing Love—Himself. The abiding that we refer to is when His Spirit, which is Love, comes into us and abides/remains/stays in us. This abiding grows when we give, forgive and do the other “New Commandments” Christ has given to us. When we channel His love onto another, His nature of love is reproduced magnified, thus fulfilling His purpose.

God has a plan to guide us into a position to receive His Spirit of agape love into the center of our being. Christ, the Son of God is central to this plan. It is only He that shows us the way to receive the Father into our hearts. For He is the way. He is the road, the avenue to get there.

He lined out the secrets and mysteries to His apostles. They have shared the way with us in the letters they wrote to the church in the first century A.D. Peter tells us that we will reach spiritual maturity when we add seven additions to the faith (II Peter 1: 3-11). The last one is agape love.

This agape love is the “Spirit of truth” that will inhabit and actually remain in us, guiding us into all truth. Agape love is based in truth. If there is any falseness, then it is not agape love, for He is truth; His word is truth. If there are any false teachings, then the Spirit of truth cannot abide/remain/stay in us. [It is not coincidental that the very next chapter of II Peter is a stern warning to us all concerning “false prophets” and “false teachers” who will bring in heresies that will prevent us from fulfilling God’s purpose.]

Remember Christ clearing out the temple? We are the temple—the temple of God! All money changers of selfish and worldly thinking and error filled thoughts must be banished from our hearts. Then His Spirit will abide/remain/stay in us and take up residence. And through the presence of His Spirit within, His love will grow, and He will be reproduced within us.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

God Chooses Our Destiny in Becoming the Manifestation of the Sons of God

Human beings in the 21^st Century really do think that they are in control, that they call the shots, that they are the captain of their own destiny. And no wonder—we have been taught that since childhood.

And it admittedly does seem so. A thought enters our mind, and we act on it, and—voila!—we have made a choice in life. We are in control. We commandeer our own successes or failures. We, we, we…

Today mankind is swimming in a pool of existentialism and humanism. And they will drown in that pool unless their Maker and Savior chooses to throw them a life line and reel them back to shore.

Mankind is so humanistic that they think that they make the choices that govern their existence. Christians the world over are some of the staunchest purveyors of the doctrine of man’s free will, professing their belief on the Bible.

But upon deeper reflection, the scriptures reveal a God who has pre-written the script of life and has already assigned parts for us to enact. He has made His choices, according to the script that was sealed with seven seals. He chose us before we ever grew in our mother’s womb, before we awoke from that watery tomb, before we began to breathe the good air provided to us.

Yahweh said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (1: 5). This proves that God provides a personal destiny to man.

Isaiah concurs. “Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name…Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified” (Isa. 49: 1-3). God’s servant is no longer in prophecy one lone prophet, like a Jeremiah or Isaiah, but a people, a nation that God calls Israel. And with this expansion of destiny, God reveals His plan for His glorification. It will be in a body of people.

He calls it “the manifestation of the sons of God.” The whole creation is waiting for this. It is that glorious time when death will be defeated for all of us. The doors of immortality will blow open, and we shall enter that dimension where physical suffering and decrepitude will no longer exist (Rom. 8: 18-23).

He Chose Us

The point is that He chose us; He is in control. Christ said, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit…” (John 15: 16). Think back to when you were converted to Christianity. Before that day of deliverance, He had already chosen you for that honor—to be His son or daughter. He chose you for His purpose, to fulfill His plan. And this “much fruit” that we are to bear is the glorification He spoke of in Jeremiah above.

It is with this choosing that He exercises His sovereignty. We see a glimpse of it in Proverbs 16: 1. “The preparations [disposings] of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD (Yahweh).” “Preparations” is translated from a root word in Hebrew meaning “to arrange in order, or in a row, to put in order.” Consequently, we see an arrangement of the things of the heart, which God answers—through our mouth. Remember when Christ told His disciples to not worry about what they should say when they are delivered up before powerful world rulers, for “it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you” (Matt. 10: 19-20). We have been ordained by Him to be His mouthpieces.

God is in charge of preparing our hearts. Yes, He has given us a mind that thinks of things to do or say. He puts us into situations, predicaments, and struggles to help us grow spiritually. “The answer of the tongue is from Yahweh.” He prepares us to answer and to respond to the very stimuli that He brings.

His loving hand leads and guides our hearts and mouths. “The way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walks to direct his [own] steps” (Jer. 10: 23). God is orchestrating our walk here on earth. We sometimes pray that He will lead and guide us; He is already doing just that. He is behind our thoughts, reactions and movements. He is the “wise master builder who is constructing stone by stone His holy temple, the body of Christ.

How our inner heart and spirit is arranged—its development spiritually, its trials and triumphs, the heart’s pain and joy—all of the things that our hearts go through, is arranged and ordered by the LORD.     Kenneth Wayne Hancock

[Ordering My Free Books in Paperback

I am now able to send you a copy of my books absolutely free with free shipping.  Please specify which one.

Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality explores the deeper meaning of our Savior’s Hebrew name Yahshua, which means Yahweh is the Savior.

The Unveiling of the Sons of God explains how the whole creation is waiting and longing for the manifestation (the unveiling) of the sons of God for these latter days. Christ will be totally formed in His elect as they will have grown and matured spiritually into His likeness and power.

The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect. It explores God’s vision for us, to be kings with Christ and how He will use us to reproduce His nature of Love.

My latest book is The Apostles’ Doctrine. Their doctrine was Christ’s teachings. And the early church walked in those teachings. This book reveals just what they are and how to walk in them.

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God bless you and your family, and thank you for taking a stroll with me on Immortality Road.]