◈ Aspects of the City Rev . 21 : 2 ~ 19 , 1 Kings 7 : 1 ~ 12 source by T . Austin - Sparks Solomon ' s palace is connected to New Jerusalem . It ' s so interesting ! Transcribed from a message given by T . Austin - Sparks in March 1960 . A few verses from two places , one in the Old and one in the New Testament . In the 1 Kings , 7 : 1 ~ 12 " Solomon was building his own house thirteen years , and he finished all his house . For he built the House of the Forest of Lebanon ; the length thereof was a hundred cubits , and the breadth thereof fifty cubits , and the height thereof thirty cubits , upon four rows of cedar pillars , with cedar beams upon the pillars . And it was covered with cedar above over the forty and five beams that were upon the pillars , fifteen in a row . And there were prospects in three rows , and light was over against light in three ranks . And all the doors and posts were square in prospect , and light was over against light in three ranks . And he made the Porch of Pillars : the length thereof was fifty cubits , and the breadth thereof thirty cubits ; and the porch before them , and pillars and thick beams before them . He made the porch for the throne where he might judge , even the Porch of Judgment ; and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor . And his house where he might dwell had another court within the porch , was of the like work . He made also a house for Pharaoh ' s daughter , whom Solomon had taken for a wife , like unto this porch . All these were of costly stones , even of hewn stones , sawed with saws , within and without , even from the foundation unto the coping , and so on the outside unto the great court . The foundation was of costly stones , even great stones , stones of ten cubits , and stones of eight cubits . And above were costly stones , even hewn stones according to measure and cedar wood . And the great court round about had three rows of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams , like as the inner court of the house of the LORD and the porch of the house . " The New Testament book of the Revelation chapter 21 verse 2 : " And I saw the holy city , New Jerusalem , coming down out of Heaven from God , made ready as a bride adorned for her husband . " Verse 10 : " And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and high , and showed me the holy city , Jerusalem , coming down out of Heaven from God , having the glory of God . And her light was like unto a stone most precious , as it were a jasper stone , clear as crystal . Having a wall great and high , and having twelve gates , and at the gates twelve angels ; and names written thereon , which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel . .." 16 : " And the city lieth foursquare , and the length thereof is as great as the breadth ; and he measured the city with the reed : twelve thousand furlongs ; the length and the breadth and the height thereof are equal . " 19 : " And the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all manner of precious stones . .." In both of these representations we have that which is symbolic of the place where the Lord delights and purposes to dwell . The greater than Solomon is building His House and a House also for His Bride . The King is building the City where His throne is to be . We read carefully these descriptions of Solomon ’ s buildings and of the new Jerusalem , the Holy City . We can clearly discern three outstanding characteristics : 1 . strength ; 2 . beauty ; 3 . costliness . These are the three major characteristics of that in which the Lord will dwell . He is most concerned for these things and He works with deep and patient application to have them the ｅxpression of Himself , of His own thoughts . ▶ 1 . Strength ! Very evident in Solomon ’ s building , the element of strength : those mighty stones , those weighty stones and those great cedars of Lebanon . It is all the impression of strength . It ’ s taken a long time to secure those stones , they have a long history , indeed it might be impossible to trace the beginning of those stones . That rock - like substance goes back a long way and has a long history . Those cedars of Lebanon were not planted yesterday , they speak of many a testing storm , many a long year of growth . There ’ s nothing superficial about these things , nothing light and fancy about them , nothing will be able to carry them away ; they ’ ll stand , they ’ ll endure . They are the embodiment of the very principle of patient endurance . There ' s eternity in their very constitution . They have passed through many a tempestuous testing ; they are here in the House because of that . The King will dwell there because of that . They have been exposed to the elements , they have never been coddled and covered and protected from adverse elements ; they ’ ve been exposed to all the forces that could destroy . Here we have strength . Look at that mighty City . Twelve thousand furlongs does not convey very much to our minds until we begin to sit down and remember that this is a cube . When you sit down and think about it , and I leave it for the mathematicians to work it out ; length , breadth , and height – equal . Today , day by day we are impressed , almost shocked , when we read and hear of thousands of millions of pounds or miles . .. You know , this City if you work it out , runs into thousands of millions of cubits ; thousands of millions of cubits ! I just mention it in order to emphasize this fact of weightiness , the substantial , the enduring aspect . Dear friends , I think I need hardly say any more , your minds are interpreting and applying as I speak ; isn ’ t this the history of the true people of God ? Is it not ? The Lord does not put us in glass houses to grow us , to be His trees ; the Lord does not protect us from the storms , the adversities ; He exposes us to the bitter winds and the scorching suns of adversity and trial . The Lord is working in us that which is according to His own Nature – eternity , the enduring , the everlasting God – that which will not be easily or hardly carried away . He is putting substance in you . Oh , today we fear that the appeal to become Christians is so often in terms of having an easy or a good time ; being happy and enjoying yourself ; well , thank God for ALL divine joy , but this is true to the House , to the City , that the first thing the Lord is working toward and seeking to work into His people is that substantial , steadfast , enduring faithfulness that is according to His own nature . Substantial ! Oh for substantial Christians that don ’ t need coddling and nursing and running after all the time ; being pandered to get them to go on or stand up . Men and women like cedars of Lebanon ; like the hewn stones – weighty , accountable , responsible to carry weight – and all that is meant by strength . I can only remind you again of what a large place that has in the Word of God : be strong , be strong in the Lord in the strength of His might , be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus . Think again . Want to understand why the winds are allowed to blow so fiercely . .. the storms ? To get us away from that natural , easy - going - ness or cheapness , lightness , frivolousness and to make us people of weight . Strength – through testing , through adversity – strength . .. to endure throughout all ages . There is much which is going to be carried away in the last great testing , and if , therefore , trial and adversity is the only way to deepen us , to put caliber into us , I suppose we must expect more of it as the time shortens . ▶ 2 . Beauty , not staying to say much about it but it is so evident in these representations , isn ’ t it ? Beauty . The Lord is also at work in this matter . The Lord wants that which is His dwelling place , the place that He is making for Himself for His own habitation , to be attractive , to be admirable , to be grand , to be something to be wondered at . I suppose the one word that covers this whole sphere of beauty is the word " grace ". Grace ! If suffering is unto strength , then grace is unto beauty . If you and I have a true apprehension of divine grace , real heart appreciation of the meaning of divine grace , there will be something about us that is not ugly , repulsive , but something beautiful , something mellow . Beauty is not fierce . Beauty is not cruel . Beauty is not hard . Beauty is in the right sense , soft . Perhaps mellow is the best word . You and I as we go on with the Lord unto His end , ought to be losing our natural hardness of judgment , of word , of attitude , and taking on more and more of the mellowness of grace . Look again at these descriptions , perhaps particularly that of the City and see how outstandingly is this characteristic of beauty . Beauty ! It ’ s a mighty thing , an almost over - awing thing in its strength , its power to resist and endure and stand , and yet it is one of those wonderful things about the Lord , the Lord Jesus , and it ' s one of those wonderful things about anything or anyone in whom He fulfills His purpose – is the combination of strength and beauty . The balance of strength – it ’ s not all strength and it ’ s not all softness – marvelous balance in the Lord Jesus , look at Him ! These two things brought together . .. and that is what the Lord would have . ▶ 3 . And finally , costliness . How costly was Solomon ’ s building , the gold of Ophir ! There was a great , great cost bound up with those houses that he built , with the city , the foundation of the walls ; all manner of costly stones … something very precious , something very valuable to the Lord . Here there is nothing cheap , there is nothing cheap in what is of God . Remember that ! Everything that is of God is costly . It has a great price attached to it . There is nothing here contemptible , mean ; it is the embodiment of suffering – costly stones . Notice that on these twelve foundations were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb and the first was jasper , clear as crystal . Who was the first of the apostles ? Simon Peter . Jasper , clear as crystal ; all the mixture has gone out – transparent , clear – but what suffering ! Look at him : “ he went out and wept bitterly ” . Peter in his letters has quite a lot to say about fiery trials to test us , to try us . Peter knew suffering . Yes , but you see it produced something very precious , valuable and costly to the Lord . Was it not Peter who used that word , “ unto you that believe is the preciousness … ” ? 1 Pet . 2 : 7 If you again think of the Lord ’ s ways with us , you cannot fail to see that the Lord is prepared to use a lot of time and a lot of energy and a lot of money in order to get essential spiritual value . Those of you who have read the life of Madam Currie , the discoverer of radium , will remember the tons and tons and tons of stuff that men would call rubbish , heaped into that backyard there ; collected , collected tons of it , you might say mountains of it , out of which to get the tiniest grain of radium . When it ’ s all reduced , just this little fragment of radium out of tons . Ah , but look at the cost of radium in those days ; look at the power , the virtue in radium ! The Lord seems like that , He is prepared to use tons and tons and tons and tons to get one fragment of this essential nature of Himself : preciousness . It ' s intrinsic energy , there is something about the nature of the Lord that is tremendously potent ; the potency of Truth , the potency of Love , of God . Now , while the Lord wants us to be scrupulously careful about money , our use of money , our care of money , He would never for a moment be sympathetic toward carelessness in that realm , He himself sometimes seems to draw upon the resources , the material resources and the financial resources , so fully , so deeply in order to turn to account for some spiritual measure and this is what I ’ m trying to say to you . You and I must look at everything in the light of spiritual value ; that is how He looks at it . Nothing with the Lord is of any value only in so far as it results in something of Himself . You may have your millions , I don ’ t suppose any of you have , but if you had your millions , that to the Lord is nothing ; He says , how much does that represent of Me ? You may have your little and have to look at every shilling that you spend , but there may be , in your use of it , something of the Lord , for the Lord and so the Lord looks upon a widow ’ s mite in the light of spiritual value , while He looks upon the Pharisee ’ s plenty without one thought or word of pleasure . It ’ s everything in the light of spiritual value where the Lord is concerned . Think of the matter of time , what a lot of time the Lord takes ! How we get upset over this matter of time . .. it is one of our big problems that the Lord is so slow , waits so long , takes so much time ! That ’ s real trouble with us , isn ’ t it ? Always trying to hurry the Lord ; no , if it requires time to get what He ’ s after , He will take eternity to get it , He will take a lifetime to get it . You see , the whole thing with the Lord is just real value , the cost of things . And we could speak much about suffering , much about suffering . .. how much suffering the people of God know . It ’ s a problem , the sufferings of the Lord ’ s people , but if Paul is right , here ’ s the answer : “ Our light affliction which is but for a moment … ” and you can only talk like that if you can see the other , the rest : “ that worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory ” eternal weight of glory ! That is the end , the object , the goal . Our light affliction ; it isn ’ t light at all , it is very heavy affliction unless we can see what the Lord is after and then perhaps affliction will be seen in a different way . So here we are : costliness . The Lord is after this true value and when He gets that , these characteristics , when He gets them - strength and beauty and real preciousness , costliness - the process will be fully justified .