Thought to Ponder- "The Street of Gold" I believe that the PLACE this One New Man is gathered, or re-MEMBERED is quite significant; “And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the STREET that was before the WATER GATE...” (Nehemiah 8:1) As I read of this street before the water gate, it makes me think of another ‘street’ we are all familiar with; “...and the STREET of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass... And he shewed me a pure river of WATER of LIFE, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the STREET of it, and on either side of the river, was there the Tree of Life...” (Revelation 21:21, 22:1-2) I believe there is a direct correlation between the ‘street’ in Nehemiah and the ‘street’ in Revelation. The word translated as ‘street’ in Revelation, plateia in Greek, is singular and not plural, it is a singular STREET of gold, and it means a wide plat or place, an open square. The word translated as ‘street’ in Nehemiah, rchowb in Hebrew, means a width or area, it is often translated as a broad place. So, rather than the ‘street’ we normally think of, you will probably find a closer association with the word ‘pavement’ we find in Ezekiel 40:17; “Then brought he me into the outward court, and, lo, there were chambers, and a PAVEMENT made for the court round about: thirty chambers were upon the PAVEMENT.” In fact, when we compare the wording in Revelation 21:10&15 to the wording in Ezekiel 40:2-3, we see that God brought both John and Ezekiel to a very high mountain and showed them a city and measured it. “And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God... And he that talked with me had a golden reed to MEASURE the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.” (Revelation 21:10&15) “In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south. And he brought me thither, and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a MEASURING reed; and he stood in the gate.” (Ezekiel 40:2-3) You will also find reference to this ‘pavement’ in 2 Chronicles 7:3; “And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the PAVEMENT...” The ‘pavement’ was really the outer court where sin was judged and dealt with by means of the altar of sacrifice and the laver of cleansing. So the sacrifice on the altar atoned for sin and washing in the laver made one ceremonially clean. Now let’s look at John 19:13 and we will see the spiritual ‘truth’ of the ‘pavement’ unveiled; “When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the JUDGMENT seat in a place that is called the PAVEMENT...” You see, the ‘pavement’ in Nehemiah or ‘street’ of gold referred to in Revelation is in reality the FINISHED WORK of Christ on the cross! His FINISHED WORK not only atones for our sin, but delivers us from the Adamic sin-nature that we may live in His divine nature with a different spiritual DNA than the first man... that we may live as ONE NEW MAN. God’s full JUDGMENT was poured out at the PAVEMENT, as the Father “...made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) It is only at the PAVEMENT, resting and dwelling in the FINISHED WORK of Christ, that we can be re-MEMBERED, gathered as ONE NEW MAN. Christ, in His finished work of the cross, is indeed the “Restorer of STREETS to Dwell In.” (Isaiah 58:12) I don’t know about you, but that’s one ‘street’ I want to dwell in! I’m a ‘street person’! (Excerpt from the chapter Gathered As One Man in the book "Dawning of the Third Day") Paperback- https://createspace/4393422 Kindle Edition- amazon/Dawning-Third-Day-ebook/dp/B00EFYTNJG/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376165830&sr=1-5&keywords=doug+fortune
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 15:54:37 +0000