The Enclave

 

 

I know of an enclave

Unlike any other,

It was provided for me

By my Heavenly Father.

 

It is in this world

But not a part thereof,

It’s really the New Jerusalem

Coming down from above.

 

The Apostle saw it

On the Isle of Patmos,

In a vision most clear

When he saw Jesus.

 

It replaced the old one

Covenanted to the Jews,

This one includes you and me

As the Father did choose.

 

Unless there was an old

They can’t be a new

I am speaking of Jerusalem

I trust you catch the view.

 

The old Jerusalem

Has come to an end,

Now there is the New Jerusalem

That the Father did send.

 

 

It is finished, said Jesus,

The old covenant went out,

And with it, the old enclave

It is the new we are about.

 

We don’t have to run in

If we are already inside

For already in Christ,

The believer resides.

 

There is no mix within

As there are in the world,

There is just one in Christ

As shown in the Word.

 

No Jew and Gentile

No black and/or White,

But those indwelt by the Spirit

Having come to the Light.

 

In there we find refuge

During the storms of life

And there, we have the solution,

Re the problem of world-strife.

 

It is God’s kingdom

That is present on the earth

And the entry qualification

Is the new birth.

 

It is the light in the world

And also, the salt,

And if you are not a resident

Then, that is your fault.

 

But that can be corrected

Just respond to the call

That says, “Come into the enclave.

Why do you yet stall?”

 

If your name is whosoever

There is room for you,

And it doesn’t really matter

If you are Gentile or Jew.

 

Come in today

Do no longer delay,

Just heed what the Spirit says

And He’ll show you the way.

 

Stewart Russell © June 2020

 

New Presupposes Old

 

 

If there is a new

There must have been an old

And when the new comes, out goes the old,

At least, so I have been told.

 

Throughout the Bible

We read of the old and the new,

Perhaps beginning with the Testaments

One Bible divided into two.

 

Premised on this

We have the old covenant and the new,

From the call of Abraham

There is the redemption view.

 

The implication of an old Israel

And the combining of nations in the new,

Hence, the emergence of new Israel

Made up of both Gentile and Jew.

 

 

Ushering in a new creation

Though only spiritual at this time,

Adam, the centre piece of the old

But Jesus, the first fruit of its kind.

 

Thus the old Adam and the new

Of the earth and from heaven,

None are justified by the law

But through grace all are forgiven.

 

And new here means better

As clearly shown in Hebrews

Where there are several references

Differentiating the old from the new.

 

 

The promise of a new Jerusalem

Presupposes there is an old

And in the book of Revelation

We can see this promise unfold.

 

Old Jerusalem is shown as a harlot

The New Jerusalem as a chaste bride,

Christianity acknowledges the Saviour

In the old Jerusalem he is denied.

 

The persecution of the early Church

Came firstly from the Jews,

They rode on the backs of the Romans

And the Christians they abused.

 

 

Starting with the crucifixion of Jesus,

“We have no king but Caesar,

His blood be on us and our children.”

And this fulfillment was not far.

 

God put away the old bride

When He gave her a bill of divorcement

And in the penultimate chapter of Revelation

A new bride is now present.

 

This bride is the Church of Christ

Without wrinkle and without spot,

Having been washed in the blood of Jesus

The new heavens and earth is her lot,

 

Thus a new heavens and a new earth

The first having passed away,

Behold, God makes all things new!

O what a wonderful, wonderful day!

 

Stewart Russell © November 2019