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Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:1—22:5, 14-15
In previous chapters we have fellowshipped concerning the rapture of the saints; the seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls in relation to the rapture of the saints and the second coming of Christ; the second coming of Christ; and the kingdom of a thousand years. In this chapter we want to see the New Jerusalem as the consummation of God’s New Testament economy. The hardest part of the holy Word to understand is the part concerning the New Jerusalem. We need to remember, however, that it is the conclusion of the apostles’ teaching and also the conclusion of the entire Bible.
This chapter will be a short summary of the truth concerning the New Jerusalem. If we want to know more of the crucial details concerning the New Jerusalem, I would suggest reading chapters 26 through 44 in the book entitled God’s New Testament Economy.
The New Jerusalem is the finalization of the completed divine revelation of the entire Scriptures — the aggregate of the fulfillment of all the prophecies, types, figures, and foreshadows. It is the conclusion of the entire apostles’ teaching, beginning from the incarnation of God. The purpose of God’s incarnation was to produce the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the enlargement, the expansion, of God. Before creation God merely possessed divinity. But the New Testament reveals that God has been processed and consummated. The New Jerusalem is the consummation of the processed and consummated Triune God. Such a New Jerusalem is the enlargement of God with the divine element, the human element, the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the ascension of Christ compounded and mingled together with His chosen, redeemed, transformed, and glorified people.
In eternity past God was single. But at the end of Revelation He has a bride. Revelation 19 shows us the Lamb’s marriage and His marriage dinner (vv. 7-9). God has a corporate wife, and this corporate wife includes men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation (5:9). The aspect of the church as the wife of Christ is ultimately consummated in the New Jerusalem. In her, God will have the fullest satisfaction in love and the utmost rest in expression for eternity.
The New Jerusalem will also be the consummation of God’s new-creation work throughout the ages of the old creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Eph. 2:15; 4:24; Col. 3:10). In the universe God has had two kinds of works: the work of the old creation and the work of the new creation. In Genesis 1 and 2 we see that God has finished His old creation work. Then from Genesis 2 onward to the end of the Bible, there is a new creation to be produced out of the old creation. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we are told that whoever is in Christ is a new creation. This new-creation work goes on through the four ages of the old creation.
The first age of the old creation was the age before the law from Adam until Moses. That age was to produce the forefathers (of the Old Testament saints) as a part of God’s new creation, signified by the stars on the head of the universal woman (the aggregate of God’s chosen people) in Revelation 12:1. They were a part of the old creation, but they were redeemed and transformed to become a part of God’s new creation. The second age of the old creation is the age of the law, from the giving of the law to the coming of Christ as grace. The age of the law was to produce the Old Testament saints as a great part of God’s new creation, signified by the moon under the feet of the universal woman in Revelation 12:1. The moon is under the feet of the woman, for the age of the moon was the age of the law, which should not be exalted as the stars. But through that law the Old Testament saints were produced to become the new creation as a part of God’s chosen people. The third age is the age of grace, from the first coming of Christ to His second coming, to produce the New Testament saints as the biggest and the consummating part of God’s new creation, signified by the sun around the body of the universal woman in Revelation 12:1.
The woman in Revelation 12 is a universal woman because with her are the stars, the moon, and the sun. All these are heavenly. That woman is the aggregate of God’s chosen people, signifying the entire body of God’s chosen people in three parts: the forefathers, the Old Testament saints under the law, and the New Testament saints under grace. The forefathers are signified by the stars, the Old Testament saints under the law are signified by the moon, and the New Testament saints are signified by the sun. This picture shows that the Old Testament saints, as the stars and the moon, were in the night, but we New Testament saints, as the sun, are in the day.
The last age of the old creation is the age of the kingdom, from the second coming of Christ to the end of the millennium, to mature the immature saints. We should believe that at least some among us are mature, but the majority of us are not mature. If the Lord Jesus came today, the mature ones would be ready, but what would the immature ones do? These ones are like unripened wheat yet to be harvested. They need to be under the scorching sun to be ripened. The scorching sun matures the wheat. But the scorching is a suffering. This scorching will take place during the great tribulation. The common teaching in Christianity says that when the Lord Jesus comes back, all the believers will be happy. Surely the mature ones will be happy. The good students who prepared their lessons adequately will be happy on the day of graduation because they will graduate. But those who do not graduate will have to make up their lessons.
God has prepared four ages in the old creation to produce the forefathers, the Old Testament saints under the law, and the New Testament saints under grace. But many of these saints will not have grown adequately. Without adequate growth, they are not mature. One day either we will die, or the Lord will come back. If we are not mature, God has a way to deal with us, to help us to mature. This is logical. To become mature in this age requires us to pay the price. But the price that we pay today compared with the price that we will have to pay in the coming age is much less. We should choose to mature in this age. If we do not mature in this age, we will eventually mature. But we will have to mature at the price of passing through some dealing, some punishment.
The Lord Jesus will rapture the ones who mature first before the three and a half years of the tribulation. They will not have to pass through the tribulation. But according to 1 Corinthians 15:52, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, and Revelation 14:14-16, the majority of the saints will be raptured at the last trumpet. The last trumpet will be at the end of the great tribulation. This is a strong proof that the majority of the living believers will pass through the time of trial of the three and a half years of the great tribulation. The age of the kingdom will also be used by the Lord to mature the immature saints. This age will still be a part of the old creation, but it will be restored (Acts 3:21; Matt. 19:28).
The New Jerusalem will be the composition in a smaller scale of all the overcoming and mature saints as a reward to them in the kingdom age (Rev. 2:7b). This will include the overcomers in the Old Testament and the overcomers in this age. After the Lord Jesus comes back, these overcomers, who will be justified at the Lord’s judgment seat, will be rewarded. Their reward will be the New Jerusalem, which includes them. That stage of the New Jerusalem in the kingdom of one thousand years will be a particular portion as a reward to the overcoming and mature saints. This is strongly proved by Revelation 2:7. In this verse the Lord said, “To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.” The Paradise of God here refers to the New Jerusalem in the kingdom age. Furthermore, Revelation 3:12 indicates that the New Jerusalem will be a prize to the overcomers in the millennial kingdom. The New Jerusalem in the millennial kingdom will be a prize only to the overcoming saints, whereas the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth will be the common portion to all the redeemed saints for eternity.
The New Jerusalem will be the bride to marry the consummated Triune God and will then become the wife of the Lamb (21:2, 9b). The bride in Revelation 21 is the totality of all of God’s redeemed people through the four ages of the old creation. By this time all the immature ones will be matured. Everyone will be perfected. All the redeemed people of God will be matured after the kingdom of a thousand years. They all will be the bride. The bride in the new heaven and the new earth will not be as she was in Revelation 19. She was then composed of the overcomers only. But the bride in Revelation 21 will be enlarged to include all of God’s people. This bride will be the wife of the Lamb for eternity. We must remember that the New Jerusalem is not a literal, physical city. Actually, that city will be a person — the wife of the Lamb.
The New Jerusalem will be the eternal tabernacle as God’s habitation among men (v. 3). The New Jerusalem will be a mutual habitation for both God and us.
This New Jerusalem will be the eternal temple (the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb Themselves) for God’s redeemed to worship Him within it (v. 22). The tabernacle will be the chosen people of God, and the temple will be the Triune God. We will be the tabernacle for God to dwell in, and the Triune God will be the temple for us to dwell in and worship Him.
The New Jerusalem will be the composition of all of God’s chosen and redeemed people, including all the saved Israelites under God’s old covenant and all the believers of God’s new covenant, as a common portion to all of God’s chosen and redeemed people in eternity (vv. 12-14). As we have pointed out, the New Jerusalem in the millennium is a reward. In the new heaven and new earth, the New Jerusalem will be a common portion to all of God’s chosen and redeemed people in eternity. This is proved by verses 12 through 14 in Revelation 21, which say that the New Jerusalem bears the names of the twelve tribes and the names of the twelve apostles. The twelve tribes represent the Old Testament saints, and the twelve apostles represent the New Testament saints. This presents a clear view that the entire New Jerusalem is a total composition of the Old Testament saints under God’s first covenant and all the New Testament saints under God’s second covenant, the new covenant.
The New Jerusalem is built with the processed Triune God, typified by gold, pearls, and precious stones (vv. 18-21). These precious materials typify the Triune God in His Trinity. The Father in His nature is as gold. This gold is for the base of the city, and this base rises up as a high mountain. This high mountain holds the entire city that is built upon it. The New Jerusalem is a city built upon a gold mountain, and that gold signifies God’s divine nature. Therefore, God’s divine nature will be the base as a mountain to hold all of God’s people built together on it.
The Son in His redemptive and regenerating work is seen in the pearls. Pearls are produced by oysters in the waters of death. When the oyster is wounded by a particle of sand, it secretes its life-juice around the sand and makes it a precious pearl. This depicts Christ as the living One coming into the death waters, being wounded by us, and secreting His life over us to make us precious pearls for the building of God’s eternal expression. The twelve gates as the entrance to the holy city are twelve pearls. These gates bear the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and at the gates are twelve angels. “Israel” here represents the law of the Old Testament. This signifies that the entry into the city is according to the requirements of the law through the redemption of the Son, under the observation of the angels. There will be twelve angels at the twelve gates watching to ensure that everyone who comes in is according to the requirement of the law.
The city is also built with precious stones. The Spirit in His transforming work is typified by precious stones for the city’s wall and its foundation, which bears the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, signifying that the foundation of the city is the consummation of the Spirit’s transforming work based upon the Son’s redemption. The Spirit works to transform the redeemed and regenerated saints into precious stones for the building of God’s eternal habitation so that they may express God corporately in His permeating glory.
The New Jerusalem is a square city with three gates on each of the four sides, signifying the mingling of the Triune God with the tripartite man (v. 13). Three signifies the Triune God, and four signifies man as the leading one in God’s creation. Thus, three times four is the mingling of divinity with humanity, the mingling of the Triune God with the tripartite man.
The measurement of the city is twelve thousand stadia in three dimensions, signifying that the entire city is the Holy of Holies as God’s habitation (v. 16). The length, the width, and the height of the city are the same. The dimensions of the Holy of Holies, both in the tabernacle and the temple, were also equal in length, breadth, and height (Exo. 26:2-8; 1 Kings 6:20). This shows that the entire New Jerusalem will be the Holy of Holies.
The glory of God in the Lamb is the light of the city for its shining, in which the nations will walk (Rev. 21:11, 23-24a). Christ is the lamp of the holy city, and God within Him is the light as the glory.
The measurement of the wall of the city is a hundred and forty-four cubits, twelve times twelve, signifying the absolute perfection and eternal completion of the absolute perfections and eternal completions in God’s eternal administration, through the mingling of the processed Triune God with the transformed tripartite man, for the holy separation of the city in resurrection (v. 17). The number twelve signifies perfection and completion in God’s administration. Therefore, twelve times twelve is the absolute perfection and eternal completion of absolute perfections and eternal completions in God’s eternal administration. The mingling of the processed Triune God with the transformed tripartite man is also indicated by the number twelve because twelve is three times four. This mingling is for the holy separation of the city because the wall is a separation, and the separation is a protection. The city being in resurrection is signified by the statement — “the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.” This means that the man and the angel are the same. According to the Lord’s word in Matthew 22:30, it is in resurrection that man will be like the angels.
The wall of the city being of jasper means that the city has God’s appearance. In Revelation 4:3 God is sitting on the throne, and His appearance is like jasper. According to 21:18a, the entire wall surrounding the city is jasper. Therefore, the appearance of the New Jerusalem is just the appearance of God. This means that the New Jerusalem will fully express God.
The twelve colors of the foundation of the city appear as a rainbow, signifying God’s ever-remaining faithfulness (vv. 19-20). Thus, the entire city is built upon and secured by God’s faithfulness in keeping His covenant (Gen. 9:8-17).
The New Jerusalem has God’s throne with God and the Lamb (the redeeming God) sitting on it on the peak of the city. Out of this throne proceeds a river (the consummated Spirit) of water of life in its unique spiral street (the ministering communication) to water the whole city (for its drink). The tree of life (the life-supplying Christ) as a great vine grows on the two sides of the river to nourish the entire city (for its food). All this is seen in Revelation 22:1-2.
The river of water of life in the New Jerusalem signifies the consummated Spirit. Eventually, God’s Spirit will be a river. This river of water of life is in the city’s unique spiral street. In the whole city there is only one street. The street with the river spirals down the mountain to reach every part of the city and all its twelve gates. The street is the communication that ministers something to us. This is the ministering communication to water the whole city for the city’s drink. The tree of life, the life-supplying Christ, is a great vine growing on the two sides of the river to nourish the entire city for its food. God’s throne is for His government, the river is for our watering, and the tree of life is for our nourishment. The river signifies the consummated Spirit, and the tree signifies the life-supplying Christ. The Triune God governs the entire city, serves the entire city, waters the entire city, and feeds the entire city.
All of God’s redeemed and transformed people are kings within the city to reign over the new heaven and new earth as the realm of God’s eternal kingdom (v. 5b). All the believers will be a big royal family. All of us will be kings, not mere citizens. We will be a governing class. The kingdom is the city, and the new heaven and new earth will be the realm of the kingdom. The restored and purified nations will be the people outside the city (21:24-26).
At the Lord’s coming back, the last day of His parousia, His coming to the earth, He will destroy Antichrist, his armies, and the false prophet. They will be the most evil people on earth. God will gather them together into a great winepress, the war at Armageddon, to destroy them.
After Christ destroys all these evil ones, He will set up His throne in today’s Jerusalem to gather all the nations who are left and to judge them (Matt. 25:32-46). He will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. They will be judged based upon how they have treated the Lord’s brothers during the great tribulation. The sheep are those who have helped the Lord’s brothers, the Jews and the Christians, during the three and a half years of the great tribulation. These sheep will inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. Those of the nations who treated Christ’s brothers poorly will be considered as the goats. They will go directly to the lake of fire, just like Antichrist and the false prophet. The nations who are the sheep will be in the new earth as the people of God for eternity. They will be the restored and purified nations as the people outside the city, who are not redeemed and regenerated to have the uncreated life of God but who are restored in their created life to its original state, preserved forever by the leaves of the tree of life (Rev. 22:2b). The fruit of the tree of life will be our food on which we live. But the leaves of the tree of life will be the healing element to sustain the restored nations forever.
The New Jerusalem is a city full of living water as the eternal dwelling of the Triune God with His redeemed people in contrast with a lake full of burning fire as a prison of Satan, the devil, with his followers for eternity (20:10; 21:8; 22:15). The issue of the entire history of the universe will be a city full of living water and a lake of burning fire outside the city. The city will be God’s dwelling. The lake will be Satan’s prison. All of God’s lovers will be with God in the city full of living water. All the followers of Satan will be with Satan in the lake of burning fire.
