The Dead Sea Scrolls contain ancient references to The New Jerusalem as a Spiritual place. The Essenes taught that The Council of the Community had established it, and they were living in The New Jerusalem! This Scroll was found in Cave 4.
Let us examine the passages. What follows is the Scripture (From Isaiah 54) and then the Interpretation:
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Behold, I will set your stones in antimony. Isaiah 54:11b.
[Interpreted, this saying concerns]...all Israel is like antimony surrounding the eye.
and I will lay your foundations with sapphires. Isaiah 54:11c.
Interpreted this means the Priests and the people who laid the foundations of the Council of the Community...the congregation of His elect (shall sparkle) like a sapphire among stones,
[And I will make] all your pinnacles [of jasper].[1] Isaiah 54:12a.
Interpreted this concerns the twelve[2] who shall enlighten by the judgment of the Urim and Tummim...which are absent from them, like the sun with all its' light, and like the moon...
[and your gates crystal, and your border precious stones.][3] Isaiah 12b.
Interpreted this concerns the chiefs of the tribes of Israel...[4]
According to these passages, the The Council of the Community had already established and were aleady living in The New Jerusalem, Spiritually. They had written they had reached the Spiritual plane of the True Chassidim (Truly Devoted Ones) and by Faith, wrote of inhabiting The New Jerusalem!
What does this mean for todays' believer? Shouldn't we also be seeking to inhabit this great Spiritual City? In light of these passages. shouldn't we examine the passages in the Book of Revelation that speak of The New Jerusalem as being what we are to seek NOW as we do His Kingdom?[5] After all, isn't The New Jerusalem the Capital of G-ds' Kingdom?
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[2
And the wall of the city had the twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. Revelation 21:14
...the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third a chalcedony, the fourth an emerald... Revelation 21:19b
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[4
[5
No wonder those denominations soft-pedal the Dead Sea Scrolls as "old Jewish scrolls" not worth their time!
The Essenes were already inhabiting by Faith what a bunch of "dispensational apostles and prophets" are telling everyone they can't have yet! They are all "waiting on the Rapture"? Additionally, the Church cannot have it they say, it is "only for the Jews".
Taking these Scroll passages as we have them, persons "waiting on the Rapture" before they can ever enter The Spiritual New Jerusalem are being robbed of all those Blessings. These verses mean what Yeshua was talking about when He said, "The Kingdom comes not by outward observation", but "The Kingdom of G-d is within you".
The Essenes didn't have to wait.
Brenton, Sir Lancelot C.L. The Septuagint with Apocrypha. London, England. 1851. Reprinted: Hendrickson. 1999.
Vermes, Geza. The Dead Sea Scrolls in English. New York. Penguin Books. 1998.