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golden Manorah
Golden replica of the Temple Manorah

Picture courtesy of destination-yisrael.biblesearchers.com

A Joyful Assembly

We have come before God’s holy mountain:
the heavenly Jerusalem,
the city of the living God;
we have come before myriads of angels
in festal gathering:
before the assembly
of the first-born citizens of heaven;
we have come before God the judge of all:
before the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
and Jesus the mediator of a new covenant.
We are receiving a kingdom
that cannot be shaken:
let us therefore give thanks to God,
thus offering acceptable worship
with reverence and awe:
for our God is a consuming fire.

New Testament Reading - The New Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb

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9Then one of the seven angels who had emptied the flasks containing the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come with me and I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”

10In a vision he took me to a towering mountain peak, and from there I watched that wondrous city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of the skies from God. 11It was filled with the glory of God and flashed and glowed like a precious gem, crystal clear like jasper. 12Its walls were broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. 13There were three gates on each side — north, south, east, and west. 14The walls had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15The angel held in his hand a golden measuring stick to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16When he measured it, he found it was a square as wide as it was long; in fact it was in the form of a cube, for its height was exactly the same as its other dimensions—1,500 miles each way. 17Then he measured the thickness of the walls and found them to be 216 feet across (the angel called out these measurements to me, using standard units).a

18-20 The city itself was pure, transparent gold like glass! The wall was made of jasper, and was built on twelve layers of foundation stones inlaid with gems: the first layerb with jasper; the second with sapphire; the third with chalcedony; the fourth with emerald; the fifth with sardonyx; the sixth layer with sardus; the seventh with chrysolite; the eighth with beryl; the ninth with topaz; the tenth with chrysoprase; the eleventh with jacinth; the twelfth with amethyst.

21 The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure, transparent gold, like glass.

. . . . . Revelation 21:9-21
  1. 216 feet across . . . using standard units. Literally, “144 cubits by human measurements.” A cubit was the average length of a man’s arm—not an angel’s! The angel used normal units of measurement that John could understand.
  2. Literally, “foundation.”

Grace

Grace is usually said AFTER the meal.

Let us say grace.
Blessed are you LORD our God, master of the Universe
Who nourishes the whole world in goodness, with grace kindness and compassion.
He gives bread to all flesh, for his mercy endures forever.
And through his great goodness we have never lacked,
nor will we lack food for ever, for the sake of his great Name.
For he is God who nourishes and sustains all, and does good to all,
and prepares food for all his creatures, which he created.
Blessed are you Lord who nourishes all.
Amen.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International.
Prayer 7s Ministry, New Zealand. You may not use the material for commercial purposes.