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Other references to this sphere of blessing are found in The Revelation:
"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no
more out: and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of
My God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God: and
I will write upon him My new name' (Rev. 3: 12).
The significance of the fact that this is associated with the overcomer, together with
the similar significance of the context of Heb. 12:, will be considered when we come to
deal with the subject of the spheres themselves: at present we confine ourselves to
establishing the fact that the Scriptures speak of such spheres:
"And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev. 21: 2).
"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" (Rev. 21: 10).
The testimony of Heb. 11: 16 alone is sufficient proof that this heavenly city is a
separate sphere of blessing from that of the earth, and while much must yet be studied if
we would appreciate its true significance, we can, without hesitation, affirm that there is
full scriptural testimony to the existence of this second sphere of blessing.
Granting that these two spheres of blessing are actual, scriptural, facts, the question
that now awaits an answer is: Do they exhaust the teaching of Scripture on the subject?
In other words, is there a third sphere of blessing distinct from both the earth and the
heavenly city? We believe there is, and proceed at once to state the evidence for this
belief.
The Epistle to the Ephesians was written by Paul as "the prisoner of Jesus Christ"
(Eph. 3: 1). Israel, as a nation, had been set aside by the quoting of Isa. 6: 10, as
recorded in Acts 28:, and with that setting aside had of necessity gone the hope and
the blessings of which they were the appointed channel. While Israel remained as a
nation before God, the Gentile believer could be "blessed with faithful Abraham"
(Gal. 3: 9); could be associated with Israel under the New Covenant (II Cor. 3: 6);
could entertained the hope of Israel (Rom. 15: 12, 13); and "partake of the root and
fatness of the olive tree" (Rom. 11: 17); but, with Israel set aside, there arose the
necessity of a further revelation from God--if all was not to be plunged into confusion
and end in despair. This revelation is claimed by Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians:
"If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given to me to
you-ward (Gentiles): How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery"
(Eph. 3: 3).
This mystery has particular reference to the new position assigned to the Gentiles:
"That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His
promise in Christ, by the gospel, whereof I was made a minister" (Eph. 3: 6, 7).