Dear Beloved Brethren,
"But it shall be one day which
shall be known to the Lord, not day,
nor night: but it shall come to
pass, 'THAT AT EVENING TIME IT
SHALL
BE LIGHT.' " (Zechariah 14:7)
Compliments of the season and Happy
New Year to you all - It has
not
been that easy this year to start
off with you due to some minor
constraints but in it all, we thank
God for His mercies. We do
want
to welcome you to this 'HIS VOICE
THROUGH THE WEB'. It is once
again
'LIGHT IN THE EVENING TIME.'
Be blessed with it and remember, PASS
IT ON TO OTHERS that it might be
made plain upon the tables (of
their
hearts) so that as they read, they
too might run with it. Other
writings have been posted on the
Kingdomlife Website, so we
encourage
you to visit that website www.kingdomlife.com
and be blessed.
Pray for Brother Bill Gorton also
as the Spirit of God uses him to
direct the affairs of that website.
In this meditation, we will be
discussing "TWO KINDS OF STREETS"
Our
text is drawn from Revelation 21:21
and Revelation 11:8. The
first
of these two verses deal with 'the
street of pure gold'; the second
is a reference to 'the street of
the great city'. The two kinds of
streets are thus introduced to us
in this manner.
To begin, let us take a reading of
the two verses and then proceed
to
discuss our subject.
"And the twelve gates were
twelve pearls; every several gate was
of
one pearl: and the street of the
city was pure gold, as it were
transparent glass."
(Revelation 21:21)
"And their dead bodies shall
lie in the street of the great city,
which is spiritually called Sodom
and Egypt, where also our Lord
was
crucified." (Revelation 11:8)
You will recall that when we came
to Revelation 4:1 in our
meditation, we answered to that
invitation to come up hither. And
from a heavenly viewpoint, we are
made to see two sets of
contrasting
pictures. We saw two kinds of
women, two kinds of cities (the
great
city and the holy city). Then
we saw two kinds of Lambs, the first
given to us in Revelation 13, and
the other in Revelation 14.
Next,
we find 'two kinds of streets'.
There is a divine purpose behind
bringing before us the spiritual
realities symbolised by these
pictures. God encourages His people
to
a life of faithfulness.
Faithfulness brightens and enables the
believer to overcome in all things.
The future glories associated
with faithfulness are graphically
illustrated in one set of
pictures.
To understand what lies ahead of a consistent walk with God will
provoke the believer to live a life
that is well pleasing in the
sight of God, despite all
difficulties. In the same vein, the
Lord
warns against unfaithfulness.
Unfaithfulness results from habitual
disobedience. The prospects
of the terrible judgements that will
ultimately attend those who choose
the evil course are enough
warnings to dissuade any from
settling for unfaithfulness. The
allurements that captivate a soul
are also painted in very sharp
pictures. It is impossible to
miss what the Lord is emphasising in
all of these.
So let us search out what is
indicated in the first kind of street.
Now, you will notice, if you are
curious enough, that Revelation
21:21 said the 'street' of the city
was of pure gold. Not the
'streets', but the 'street'.
Remember that we are talking of the
heavenly Jerusalem. The
plural form of the word 'street' will make
more sense, naturally speaking, if
a city is being described. We
know that the smallest cities have
more than one street. This
observation forces us to look more
closely at this verse of
scripture
to discover to ourselves what the
divine intention is. God's
domain
is certainly ultra glorious.
However, it is not what is being
described here.
We know that the saints of God in
every generation have rejoiced in
their spirits as they read through
Revelation chapter 21. They
understood this chapter in a
literal way, imagining as physical
structures what is described in it.
However, this passage of
scriptures relate to the spiritual
realities of our glorious
inheritance in Christ.
Gold is made up of earth.
Though precious it is nevertheless
corruptible. The Apostle
Peter tells us very clearly that God has
begotten us again unto a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an
inheritance incorruptible, and
undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven.
Gold as used in our passage is
symbolic. When the context so
allows,
gold may be seen as typifying
divine things. Now, a street is
essentially a carriageway for human
and vehicular traffic.
So, the street of gold is a divine
street, a divine carriageway.
It
is designed to be a thoroughfare
for God and man. When properly
constructed, it will serve this
stated purpose conveniently.
Let us look at a few incidences in
scriptures to firm up this
conviction. When John (the
Baptist) came into the scene just
before
the ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ began, he said, "I am the
voice
of one crying in the wilderness,
prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make
His paths straight". So,
the way, paths, are figures of the street
the Lord travels on to meet the
people. They also stand for the
pathway the Lord's people take in
their journey to meet with Him.
This highway, this carriageway is
something constructed in the
heart
of man. You will recall that
when John (the Baptist said,
".......prepare ye the way of
the Lord, make His path straight.
Every valley shall be exalted, and
every mountain and hill shall be
made low; and the crooked shall be
made straight, and the rough
places plain..........",
he was preaching the baptism of
repentance for the remission of
sins.
So all of these activities were to take place in the hearts of
men.
So, the street of this holy city is
made of gold. It is the street
that the believer must travel upon
to come to life.
Turn with me in your Bibles to
Matthew 7, we will be taking the
13th
and 14th verses. We are going
to show that we are travelling in
one
or the other of the two kinds of
streets.
"Enter ye in at the straight
gate: for wide is the gate, and broad
is the way that leadeth to
destruction, and many there be who go in
thereat: Because straight is the
gate, and narrow is the way, which
leadeth unto life, and few there be
that find it." (Matthew 7:13,
14.)
So, there is the broad way and
there is the narrow way. The narrow
way from the human viewpoint may
seem difficult and calls for
self-denials. But it is the
pathway to glory, honour, immortality
and life. Heaven's view of
the narrow way is most gratifying: a
street of pure gold transparent as
glass.
Come with me to Luke 3. We
are still looking at the street of pure
gold. Remember the gold in
scriptures is used to symbolise the
divine nature. Jesus calls
the street that we must travel in to
crystallise the divine nature the
narrow way. We want to see how
John described this street.
On it the Lord travels to meet His
people in blessings. The
Redeemed also travels on it to meet with
the Lord in fellowship and worship.
(Luke 3:1-4)
"Now in the fifteenth year of
the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
Pontius
Pilate being governor of Judea, and
Herod being tetrach of Galilee,
and his brother Philip, tetrach of
Trachonitis, and Lysanias the
tetrach of Abilene. Annas and
Caiphas being the high priests, the
word of God came unto John, the son
of Zacharias in the wilderness.
And he came into all the country
about Jordan, preaching the
baptism
of repentance for the remission of
sins; As it is written in the
book
of the words of Esaias, the
prophet, saying, The voice of one
crying
in the wilderness, prepare ye the
way of the Lord (or prepare ye
the
street of the Lord). The Lord
is coming but prepare ye the way of
the Lord, make His paths straight.
It was something the people were to
understand and respond to. So,
the summary of the ministry of John
(the Baptist) is given to us
here
in few words. He was also to
turn the hearts of the fathers to the
children, the hearts of the
children to the fathers, and these ones
made just to the pure worship of
the Living God (Malachi 4:6).
So, the activities we are about to
read from verse 4 of Luke 3
relate
to transformation that will take
place in the sphere of our hearts.
Just as in the natural terrain, a
path may have valleys, hills,
mountains ranges, rough and crooked
places, so we are shown in this
figurative language that this is
the same way that man's heart is.
If God is going to get something
across to His people, the
difficulties His people may
experience in receiving that word
relate
to their heart condition.
Remember the parable of the Sower. He
went forth sowing. And the
work was made easy or difficult
depending
on the terrain in which the word of
God (the seed) was sown (Luke
8:5-15). Come back to verse 4
of Luke 3, we read,
"As it is written in the book
of the words of E-sai'as the
prophet,
saying, The voice of one crying in
the wilderness, prepare ye the
way
of the Lord, Make His path
straight. Every valley shall be
filled.."
In a normal road construction, if
there is depression, approved
soil
material is taken to fill it to the
desired level. So the first
figure, 'valley', is descriptive of
discouragement and despondency.
We are further told,
"..Every valley shall be
filled, and every mountain and hill shall
be brought low; and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the
rough
ways shall be made smooth.
And all flesh shall see the salvation
of
God."
Here then is the description of how
the street of pure gold is put
together. It has to do with
overcoming moral vices. What things
to
overcome are listed in various
scriptures one of which is Galatians
5:19-21. II Corinthians
6:14-7:1 is another good passage . Note
the
two-fold description of that which
must be set aside: filthiness of
the flesh and of the spirit.
Remember that from Revelation 3:12,
we
know that participation in the New
Jerusalem is a promise made to
the
overcomer. Or putting it more
correctly, as we overcome,
increasingly, there is found in our
lives, the glorious virtues
seen
in the heavenly bride, the New
Jerusalem.
In our passage, Luke 3:1-5, we have
seen that the valley will stand
for depression, discouragement and
all such attitudes. If we allow
life circumstances to overwhelm us,
we become discouraged and are
not
able to give ourselves to times of
devotion and fellowship with
God.
That is the valley condition.
It will be filled with strength and
hope when the heart is turned to
God in steadfast faith. Faith is
nourished in the environment of
God's Word and Spirit. We come to
this means of grace as we seek Him
in prayers and worship being
careful to submit to His lordship
in all things.
Depressions, fears, worries are
more a mark of the carnal minded
than
of the spiritual. It is when
the believer does not see or
understand
God clearly that he lives in
depression. What the carnal mind
focuses upon may be factual, drawn
from witnesses of the five
senses.
However, the report of the word of God transcends the witness of
the
senses. Worry and fears are
spiritually filthy things that must be
cleansed from our hearts. An
individual that allows the Lord to
carry out in him a whole lot of
cleansing and purification
inevitably
has a life of faith that is robust.
He says, ".fear thou not for I
am with thee, be not dismayed for I
am
thy God." (Isaiah 41:10).
When we fear, we are saying in effect
that
He is not our God. When we
live in discouragement and despondency,
we are saying the Lord is not with
us. So, every valley shall be
filled. If the Lord's people
are going to concentrate on the
things
that belong to their
perfection, they must learn not to give their
strength to brooding over some
misfortunes or hard circumstances.
They are rather required to lift up
their hearts unto the Lord in
faith. And the Lord who
desires them to come to Him in this manner
will fill their valleys.
Next he says, ".every mountain
shall be brought low.". The
mountain
either of difficulties or of pride
may obscure the things of God or
hinder our having a proper view of
God. We are into serious
business
with the Lord when we understand
that He must have His way in our
lives. There is no way other
than what is presented to us in our
passage (Luke 3:1-5). Do we
desire to be the Lamb's wife, the Holy
City? Then God's street must
be built for the city to appear
ultimately in us.
What has been said in the
foregoing, may be easily deduced from a
faithful consideration of the
divine thought expressed in Isaiah
62:8-12. In the Lord's
economy, it takes the street of the Lord to
be in place for the city of God to
be constructed. FIRST A STREET,
THEN A CITY.
So, we are told, ".every
mountain and every hill shall be brought
low. And the crooked places
shall be made straight.". Ordinarily,
something crooked (a crooked way)
is difficult to traverse. The
reference is to dishonesty,
pretentious living, and hypocrisy. And
sometimes, when you look at some
believers, you may not be able to
tell where they are heading for.
While one footstep is pointing to
the east, the other seem pointed to
the north. You cannot tell
where
they are going by looking at the
footprints. The Lord will have us
maintain a holy attitude, a pure
spirit in following Him. It would
then be clear to us and to others
what our tomorrow would be. So,
it
says, ".the crooked places
shall be made straight.". This agrees
with what is said of the street of
the Holy City. It is as
transparent glass (Revelation
21:21). You can see through. A
believer who is upright, sincere
and properly focused in his walk
with God is a delight.
Looking at his life, you can see the
government of God and the rule of
heaven. Dishonesty is a mark of
the beast, not of the believer in
Christ Jesus.
And he says, ".the rough
places shall be made smooth.". A rough
personality is inimical to gospel
interest. Spirituality is all
about developing a smooth
personality. Men on a spiritual
pilgrimage
to the celestial city have enough
hassles to cope with in the
world.
They would be better assisted when
they meet with fellow pilgrims
endued with such graces of the
spirit as are indicated in
Colossians
3:10-17. Distemper,
quick-temper, fierce anger, aggressive
temperament are rough attributes.
And of course these are things
that combine to give domineering
posture to an individual. You
know,
when we have rough edges, people
cannot come to us or else they are
pricked. In preparing the way
of the Lord, we need to make the
rough
places smooth. A smooth
personality is one over whom Jesus is
Lord.
Such is taking on the sweet,
lamb-like nature of our Redeemer. So,
that is the street of gold.
It is a street in as much as we
travel thereon to meet with the
Lord
and God journeys thereon to meet
with us. The Lord's way leads on
to
divinity. Will you
crystallise the divine nature? Then you must
walk
in the footsteps of Jesus. We
must walk as He walked. We must
follow the narrow way that leads to
life.
What this narrow way means in
essence, warrants a further study.
For
our present purpose, we consider
the foregoing adequate. Now let's
get introduced to the other kind of
street.
You will recall in the reading of
Matthew 7:13, we are told that
".broad is the way that leads
to destruction.". Many persons are
travelling along that way.
Let us turn to Revelation 11:8 and
Revelation 20:9. In the
second passage, it is said of certain
persons that they went up the
breadth of the earth. The phrase
"breadth of the earth" is
misleading since the original Greek word
carries the idea of a street.
They went on "the street of the
earth". So, there is a
"street of the earth", and then there is a
"street of heaven".
Men still in flesh and blood can
choose one or the other of these
two
streets to travel upon. As a
man lays his bed, so he shall lie on
it. Cast in the heart of man
is some kind of street. As he
becomes
more and more consistent in the way
he lives his life, it becomes
evident what kind of street is in
the making. A street of mud or
street of gold. On which of
these is your journeying?
Now, come with me to Revelation
11:8. We are told that certain
dead
bodies shall lie in the street of
the great city. What is the
great
city? The great city is
Babylon. Greatness is something that is
behind much of what is done in the
city of man. Babylonian set-ups
are always described by the word
"great". In contrast what things
motivate the Lord's people in their
devotion and service are such
that please God. Men who love
Him desire to be holy even as He is
holy. "Holiness becometh
thy house O Lord my God" is a familiar
phrase in the Psalms. They
are satisfied with whatever gives God
pleasure. God makes them
holy; they become of that Holy City.
Sodom and Egypt in history are
known for lewdness and everything
vile. The city called great
is characterised by moral depravity.
Unrestrained passion and evil lust
thrive in such an environment.
The street of earth, of the great
city is laid upon the foundations
of sin and uncleaness. Men
are grown in the works of the flesh and
excusing in them the vilest
affection. The sad thing about this
situation as set forth in our
passage is that it is all happening
in
the street of religion. Those
described once had their beginning
in
God.
The warnings in scriptures are
mainly addressed to the Lord's
people.
A noble vine may degenerate into something wild. In Jeremiah's
day,
he had to contend with the
spiritual declension of the children of
Israel. Things got so bad
that the Lord sacked that entire nation,
sending them to captivity.
These things are written for our
admonition. And in Revelation
18, the possibility of a whole lot
of
deviation from the way of truth is
again brought before our view.
This calls for continuous self
examination. Let us read the first
four verses:
"And after these things, I saw
another angel come down from
heaven,
having great power; and the earth
was lighted with his glory.
And he cried mightily with a strong
voice, saying, Babylon the
great
is fallen, is fallen, and is become
the habitation of devils, and
the
hold of every foul spirit, and a
cage of every unclean and hateful
bird.
For all nations have drunk of the
wine of the wrath of her
fornication, and the kings of the
earth have committed fornication
with her, and the merchants of the
earth are waxed rich through the
abundance of her delicacies.
And I heard another voice from
heaven, saying, Come out of her, my
people, that ye be Not partakers of
her sins, and that ye receive
not
of her plagues."
A careful study of these four
verses will reveal Babylon as the
ultimate end of a course of
unfaithfulness. A congregation of
people
once of the Lord may degenerate to
what is here called Babylon. It
becomes the habitation of devils,
and a hold of every foul spirit
and
a cage of every unclean and hateful
bird.
Quite often, failures are blamed
upon Satan, devils and demons.
But
the truth is that except there is
found in a person's life the
things
that attract the activities of
these evil entities, they never find
an entrance. And that is why
the key to true deliverance is
repenting from those things that
provide an entrance to evil
spirits.
So, there is no where in scriptures that God blames the devil for
the fall of any individual.
When He rebukes and judge sin, God
does so showing that the
individuals themselves have say in
the matter. They could possibly
deliver themselves from the ugly
situation. So, to say that this
great city has these
characteristics is to say that those
travelling
on the street of this great city
also have certain character traits
that attract these demonic spirits.
Galatians 5:19-21 lists
character traits which when found
in an individual pictures him as
travelling on the street of the
great city, the broad way that
leads
to destruction.
The Bible says, ".there is a
way that seemeth right unto a man, but
the end thereof is
destruction.". And, remember the emphasis in
all
of these meditations is that there
is a word the Lord is speaking
to
His people. We are called,
saved, washed, cleansed from our sins
and
His Spirit comes to dwell in us.
But if in the passage of time any
gives up the life of following
after God, allowing the growth in
Him
of moral vices he is assuredly
travelling on this "street of the
great city".
Now let's turn to Galatians
5:19-21:
"Now the works of the flesh
are manifest, which are these;
adultery,
fornication, uncleaness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft,
hatred, emulation, wrath, strife,
sedition, heresies, envying,
murders, drunkenness, revelling,
and such like: of the which I tell
you before, as I have also told you
in time past, that they which
do
such things shall not inherit the
kingdom of God".
So, these character traits found in
part or wholly in an individual
identify him as travelling on the
street of the great city. We
have
taken this discussion in a
simplified manner, and the question you
and I need to answer is "What
street are you and I travelling on?"
Are we travelling on the street of
gold, clear as crystal,
transparent as glass, or are we
travelling on the street of the
great
city, the broad way that leads to
destruction? May the Lord help
us
to answer appropriately. The
journey on the one leads to life
while
on the other leads to destruction.
In closing, we shall identify the
things which, if found in the
believer, shows him as preparing
always to walk in and along the
street of pure gold. We can
call walking in the narrow way a life
of
consecration. What is
consecration? Matthew 16:24 calls us to a
life of consecration. There
are two elements involved in the life
of
consecration. There, it says,
".except a man denies himself and
take
up his cross and follow me, he is
not worthy of me.". So,
negatively, the life of
consecration requires a man to practice
self
denial. And positively, the
life of consecration requires a man to
follow the Lamb whithersoever He
goeth.
A full consideration of what the
life of consecration entails is to
be taken in another meditation.
For now, it is sufficient to ask
us,
"On what street are you
travelling?" "On what street am I
travelling?". The Bible
says:
"God is not mocked for
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
reap. He that soweth to the
flesh, shall of the flesh reap
corruption, but he that soweth to
the spirit, shall of the spirit
reap life everlasting."
May we allow the Spirit of the Lord
to assist us choose the one and
reject the other, to love
righteousness and hate iniquity, and to
follow on. It is narrow, not
many persons are found on it, but the
Lord our God shall help us.
What seem to us to be narrow is from
the
divine standpoint, a street of
gold. Before you come to that
celestial glory, learn to travel on
the pathway that accords to
that
glory, in Jesus name. Amen.
Beloved Brethren, this far has the
Lord helped us. In our next
meditation, we shall be considering
"THE TWO KINDS OF LAMBS" . We
do
covet your prayers. We
encourage you to keep on going on as the
Lord
in His mercies continue to increase
your faith as He adds more
grace
to your spiritual elbows.
JESUS IS LORD!
Your Brother - 'Segun
Ogunfile.