"As we approach chapter seventeen of the Revelation the visions of John move rapidly toward a double climax. We are in the ascending foothills beyond which are the towering twin peaks of the Revelation — the fall of Mystery Babylon and the ascendancy of New Jerusalem. This seventeenth chapter has sometimes been called a "twisted rope" or a "tangled web," for there are many ambiguous, puzzling, and somewhat perplexing and bewildering scenes which seem beyond comprehension or understanding. However, we will not find the chapter too difficult if we proceed with patience and holy waiting upon the Spirit of Truth to quicken our hearts and enlighten our minds with that wisdom which is from above. Let us pray for the spirit of understanding to understand that which is written for our blessing and edification!"
"No word given to a prophet from the Lord by the Holy Spirit can be truthfully understood or interpreted unless the same spiritual understanding is given to the reader by the Holy Spirit that gave it originally to the prophet. God’s elect in this hour is being given the ability to "Hear what the Spirit saith," and it is the same anointing wherein it was spoken and written. The book of Revelation, like any other part of the scriptures and prophecies, must be "spiritually" understood. Understanding came to the disciples of Jesus when He "opened unto them the scriptures." Before that their natural understanding was unfruitful. They didn’t have a clue! They read all the scriptures and never saw Jesus there until He "opened" the scriptures to them. And it wasn’t a doctrine that He shared with them, it was spiritual illumination that burst forth within their hearts!"
"We must remember that what John is writing is prophecy, and prophecy is not merely history written beforehand. The prophet’s distinguishing characteristic is not foresight but insight. He peers behind the appearance of things to the spiritual realities they represent and he announces the things that he sees in the most vivid and arresting ways as they are communicated to him in signs and symbols. This does often involve prediction as to the future yet the vindication of the truth of his message does not lie in the exact correspondence of event with prediction but in the true apprehension of the eternal principles and spiritual realities revealed therein. O that the saints of the Lord might see that the value of any prophecy of scripture does not lie in the ability of the prophet to forecast the future, but in the insight it shows into the purposes of God and the power it has to quicken discernment and understanding in the spiritual realities of the kingdom of God."
Much more in the link:
Finally, she is presented as a city, the New Jerusalem, the city of peace, righteousness, glory, and divine order.
False. New Jerusalem is a literal place, streets paved with gold, many mansions, etc. It is the ABODE of the bride of Christ. There is no temple therein because God is the Temple.
You are the Temple Andy, you are the New Jerusalem of Spirit.
Babylon and the whore are synonymous, and the bride and New Jerusalem are synonymous,
John Chapter 14 KJV 2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Revelation 21 KJV 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. 16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. 17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. 18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. 19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
Sounds like a physical city to me.
That is because you are reading it as physical. All the physical symbols point to spiritual realities. We are spiritual, the flesh, the physical is nothing to us, going deeper with your faith will bring you to spiritual realities, they are above the physical. I've been around Andy, right in the midst of some really crappy physical stuff, but the Spirit was my reality, the physical was simply not my reality. We are in the world, but not of the world, just Like our Lord Jesus Christ. We are of the kingdom of God, not the kingdoms of this world, we are spiritual.
Maybe you're not ready for this stuff yet, God is the only one that readies us, I can talk all day about this stuff, but if God is not moving you in that direction, you will not go.
Maybe you're not ready for this stuff yet
Same could be said about you. Do you think you will be just floating around on your cloud for eternity? God rests on the 7th day which is a type of the 7,000th year. While He rests, we minister, we rule. We are made kings and priests with the mind of Christ (and He knew their thoughts) with the resurrected body of Christ (thrust your hand in My side.) Mortal flesh survives the tribulation and lives life just like we do now. The church, along with God's angels, do His will amongst them.
Do you believe in physical angels, in the here and now?