The Species from Two Realms: Heaven, Earth, and the New Creation (Chicago – 1989)

Praise the Lord. But the story does not end there. For the living Spirit not only touches and raises from the dead, God’s very life and nature now has a place to dwell on earth. Of course, in a place like its own habitat, the spirituals, which is now alive, and the living life of God comes into Simon Peter’s spirit, and the two become one. Praise the Lord. Christ and Simon Peter, the hope of glory, and Simon Peter is awakened to the spiritual realm, and his soul is clean and will be made whole, and his hope is that one day he’ll throw off this outer tent and have a body like unto his Lord’s, which can go through walls.

Simon Peter, look at him now if you please. Simon Peter biologically belongs to two realms. He has a living spirit, and within him is the living God. And he has a body and a soul redeemed. We got a brand new race on the face of the earth that has a right to both realms. Praise the Lord.

Well, brothers and sisters, every species needs a habitat. And a habitat will always somewhat match the species, the sky for the birds, the water for the fish, the ground for the herbs, and the fields for the cattle, and the world for fallen man. Each has its habitat. Where is this species going to live? I’m going to tell you where it’s going to live; it’s going to live at Bethel; that’s where it’s going to live. It’s going to live at Bethel, for the Lord had said to one of those men, ‘You’re impressed with the fact I saw you under the tree? The day is going to come when you’re going to see a door open and you’re going to see a ladder that joins heaven to earth and angels going up and down.’

Brothers and sisters, the Lord took the earth, and he took the heavens, and he became the ladder, and he pulled the two realms together, and he said to man, ‘This place you’re on right now is doomed; I’m going to give you a temporary dwelling place that is a foretaste of what is to come.’ And the two realms once more began to touch. The doors open. There are prayers coming through. Can you see me? Prayers coming. Lord, forgive me, please, for having denied my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we’re waiting on you. We don’t know who he is, but we were told by you that if we’d wait, you’d send your spirit. Lord, we’re waiting. Lord, we’re waiting.

And the open door, the open door, and that room get closer and closer and closer and closer until there is the rush of the holy breath. The holy wind comes roaring out through the door and takes these people up, a temporary habitat for the new species, and the two realms touch, and the church of the living God is born.

Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. A habitat for the new species. A place – the birds fly in flocks, fish go in schools, cattle go in herds, and man goes in the world, and the new species gathers together. And it gathered. It assembled. It was born, a place for us to have a habitat. A touch of heaven, and a touch of earth. A little of both met – we call it the Ecclesia. Praise the Lord.

That’s where you belong. That’s where you dwell. Oh, isn’t that wonderful? You ain’t heard nothing yet.

And then one day, this old earth dissolves, and one day that realm also dissolves, and a most incredible thing takes place. The door of the new heaven opens, and there is something glistening and brilliant, unbelievable in its glory and its beauty. Once more, reality will be known in creation. The new heaven and the new earth begin to draw together. Wow.

That happened one other time, remember? No touching this time, once more an overlapping of the physical, visible, the spiritual, the heavenlies, and the earthlies. And they begin to draw close to one another, and they are brought together, and they overlap once more. Behold, brothers and sisters, behold, the Garden of Eden is back. The Garden of Eden is back, where the heavens and the earth overlap, and the true, not the foretaste, not the temporary abiding place of the redeemed, of the new species, but really, truly, a place that matches them, part heavenly and part earthly. And it is just gorgeous. It’s the Garden of Eden. Do you not understand it’s the Garden of Eden? Go with me and look at it.

There’s the tree. Praise the Lord. And there’s the water, the living water, and finally, we can see where the tree is coming from and where the water is coming from. It’s coming down from the throne of God. It’s the Garden of Eden and God has made His dwelling there; the very center of it is the tree and the wellsprings of the water. Brothers and sisters, the throne is there; the tree is there; the living water is there; and there, look carefully, there’s the gold and there’s the pearl and precious stone like you would never believe, but something has changed. The water is still alive; the tree is still the food of the redeemed. But the living stone, the living gold, and the living pearl have all joined together and built a magnificent city. And this is the dwelling place of the redeemed. In fact, the city is the redeemed. They are the stone. And they are the precious diamonds that make it up, and the gold of God is there. And the pearl of great price is there.

And in the center of the city is the throne, and on the throne is the Lamb, and within the Lamb is the Father, the living God. And in this Garden of Eden, now called the New Jerusalem, built up, not made by hands, but made by God, there is a place that is part heaven and part earth and part invisible and part visible and part material and part spiritual. All of it together, the playground of God and His children, the habitat of the redeemed. The new Jerusalem. The house of God. Your home with Him forever.

Praise the Lord. Amen. And until that day, until that day, God has given you a foretaste of a place where heaven and earth have joined. It is called your spirit, and it is called a place where Christ indwells you. But that’s not quite it. It is a place where God is in your spirit. But it is a place where God is in another brother’s spirit. And God is in another brother’s spirit, and a sister’s spirit, and another brother’s spirit, and another sister’s spirit. And they, like the stones, are assembled together. And there’s a touch of earth there. And there’s a touch of heaven there. and you abound in it there together spiritually and physically. It is the house of God where you live. It is the church, the foretaste of the new Jerusalem, and it’s here for you now. Hallelujah. Amen.