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Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:2-3, 9-10, 18b, 21b-22; 22:1-2
I. Its significance:
А. The New Jerusalem is the greatest and the ultimate sign in the Scriptures — Rev. 21:2, 9-10.
B. It signifies an organic constitution of the processed Triune God mingled with His regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite elect:
1. According to its humanity, it is the tabernacle of God among men — the dwelling place of God in His humanity among men on the earth — v. 3.
2. According to its divinity, it is the temple of God as the dwelling place of His redeemed elect — v. 22.
3. According to its humanity, it is the human wife (with the divine life and nature) of the Lamb — the redeeming God — vv. 2, 9.
4. According to its divinity, it is the divine Husband (the redeeming God in His consummated embodiment, Christ, with the human life and nature) of God’s redeemed elect.
II. Its base:
А. It is pure gold, signifying the divine nature of God as the base for its building — v. 18b.
B. It is the solid foundation of its throne for the divine administration — 22:1b:
1. The river of water of life, signifying the Spirit, proceeding from this administration in the middle of its street as the supply to the entire city — v. 1a.
2. In the river grows the tree of life, signifying Christ, as the main supply to the entire city through the river — v. 2.
3. The divine and human communication, signified by the street, proceeds from this glorious center to reach all twelve gates of the city, in order to bring the entire city into submission to the one divine administration and to blend the entire city into the oneness of the one divinity-mingled-with-humanity communication (fellowship) — 21:21b.
Prayer: Lord, we thank You that we could have this conference with thousands of seekers coming here to seek after You according to Your revelation and vision. Lord, open up this mysterious matter to all of us. Grant us, Lord, the understanding. Grant us also the inner seeing. Lord, we trust in You. Sustain us and maintain us to the end. Amen.
The subject of this book is the application of the interpretation of the New Jerusalem to the seeking believers. The burden for this book can be expressed in the following four statements:
(1) The New Jerusalem is the greatest and the ultimate sign in the Scriptures, signifying an organic constitution of the processed Triune God mingled with His regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite elect.
(2) Its base is pure gold, signifying the divine nature of God; it is the solid foundation of its throne for the divine administration, which is the glorious center from which proceeds the divine and human communication, signified by its street, to reach all its twelve gates.
(3) Its gates are pearls, signifying the issue of the secretion of Christ’s redeeming and life-releasing death and His life-dispensing resurrection.
(4) Its wall and its foundations are precious stones, consummated by the Spirit through His transforming and building work.
In the past we released many messages to interpret this section of the Word on the mystery of the New Jerusalem. Thus, there is no need for us to repeat any past interpretation. We want to go on to apply to ourselves what has already been interpreted. In this first chapter we want to see and enter into the application of the significance and the base of the New Jerusalem.
Revelation 1:1 says that the Lord Jesus sent His angel to John to make His revelation known by signs, so the New Jerusalem is the greatest and the ultimate sign in the Scriptures (21:2, 9-10). A sign is a symbol with spiritual significance.
The New Jerusalem is a city, but this city is not literally physical. It is a sign, a figure, signifying an organic constitution. It is not something organized but something constituted organically. The holy city is a constitution in life of the processed Triune God mingled with His regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite elect. It is an organic constitution of two parties: God and man. The first party is divine. The second party is human.
The New Jerusalem has two natures, humanity and divinity. According to its humanity, the New Jerusalem is the tabernacle of God among men — the dwelling place of God in His humanity among men on the earth (v. 3). In the Bible the tabernacle is a human dwelling place. The New Jerusalem is a human dwelling place because it is constituted with humanity. It is God’s human dwelling place on earth. John 1:14 says that God was incarnated in the flesh to tabernacle among men. He is God, but He became a man. He partook of humanity as His nature, so He dwells in humanity.
According to its divinity, the New Jerusalem is the temple of God as the dwelling place of His redeemed elect (Rev. 21:22). The holy city is the temple of God because it is divine. It is the temple of God, yet it is the dwelling place of His redeemed. How could this be? Because this is God’s temple, the Dweller must be divine, but what about us? Are we divine or human? According to its humanity, the New Jerusalem is the tabernacle, but God dwells in the tabernacle. God can dwell in a human dwelling place because He has become a man. According to the divinity of the New Jerusalem, it is a temple for God to dwell in. If you are only human and not divine, you cannot dwell in the temple. We human beings can dwell in a divine temple because we have been made God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. The New Jerusalem is a mutual abode. According to its humanity, it is a human tabernacle. According to its divinity, it is a divine temple. It is a human dwelling place, but the Dweller is God. How can God dwell in a human place? Because He became a man. In the same way, how can we humans dwell in God’s temple? Because we have been made God. This is the mutual abiding of God and man.
According to its humanity, the New Jerusalem is the human wife (with the divine life and nature) of the Lamb — the redeeming God (vv. 2, 9). This human wife can marry a divine person because she has the divine life and nature. This qualifies her to match the redeeming God. On the one hand, she is human. On the other hand, she is divine. Because she is human, she can be the redeeming God’s human wife. Because she is divine, she can marry Him, a divine person.
According to its divinity, it is the divine Husband (the redeeming God in His consummated embodiment, Christ, with the human life and nature) of God’s redeemed elect. The wife is human, and the Husband is divine. How can a human wife marry a divine person? Because she has the divine person’s divine nature and life. How can the same entity also be a husband? Because the New Jerusalem is divine. The divine God is a part of its constituent. Therefore, on the one hand, it is a wife. On the other hand, it is a husband. The New Jerusalem is the wife according to its humanity and the husband according to its divinity. But as the divine Husband, the New Jerusalem has the human life and nature. In its humanity and in its divinity it is both a mutual abode and a couple, a wife and a husband.
The base of the New Jerusalem is pure gold, signifying the divine nature of God as the base for its building (v. 18b). The New Jerusalem is a golden mountain. Because we are the constituents of this New Jerusalem, we must be gold. We were made of dust, but when we received Christ as our life, we were regenerated into gold. In regeneration we received the divine life, the golden life. In the old creation, represented by Adam, we were dusty men, but when we were regenerated, we became golden men.
The base of the New Jerusalem is the solid foundation of the divine throne for the divine administration (22:1b). The river of water of life, signifying the Spirit, proceeds from this administration in the middle of the New Jerusalem’s street as the supply to the entire city (v. 1a). In the river grows the tree of life, signifying Christ, as the main supply to the entire city through the river (v. 2). The divine and human communication, signified by the street, proceeds from this glorious center to reach all twelve gates of the city, in order to bring the entire city into submission to the one divine administration and to blend the entire city into the oneness of the one divinity-mingled-with-humanity communication, fellowship (21:21b).
The throne on which God reigns is the center of the glory of the New Jerusalem. It signifies God’s ruling, God’s reigning. A street comes out from the throne. This street connected to the throne is for communication and mainly for the throne’s administration. The divine ruling has the divine administration.
On the street there is the traffic, the going and coming. First, the street is for God’s going and coming, which are for God’s administration. Eventually, this street becomes a “fellowship street.” This fellowship is between the redeeming God and His redeemed people. The redeeming God and His redeemed people must have going-and-coming fellowship. Not only so, God’s redeemed people must have going-and-coming fellowship among themselves.
From the throne proceeds the river of water of life, signifying the Spirit, and this Spirit is God’s flowing out. On the throne God is the Ruler. He is the One who reigns. But when He comes out, He is the Spirit. In the middle of the street is the river, which is God proceeding out to be life as water to quench the thirst of the entire city. First, the city has a throne and, second, a street for administration and fellowship. Third, in the fellowship is the river of water of life. Fourth, there is the tree of life, signifying the second person of the Godhead.
God flows out in the third person of the Trinity. Then the second person of the Trinity is Christ, the Son of God, as the tree of life that grows in the river and along its two sides to supply life to nourish the entire city. This picture shows that with the fellowship street we enjoy the Spirit as the river and Christ as the tree of life. These three things — the street, the river, and the tree of life — reach all the twelve gates, which signify God’s redeemed elect. The divine fellowship brings God to all His redeemed people, to all the twelve gates, to bring all His redeemed people back to Himself. First, the street goes from the throne to the twelve gates. Then it comes from the twelve gates to the throne.
Now let us consider the application of this fellowship. In applying this, I would like to ask, “Before you were saved, who was your ruler? What was your administration?” You yourself tried to be your own ruler, and you were a mess. Actually, you had no ruler or administration. One day you heard the gospel, which said, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 3:2). You needed to repent to come under the ruling of God’s kingdom. Before that time you were a person with no ruler and no administration. But you repented to the divine Ruler and came under His administration. Through the gospel God came to be your kingdom. He is the King on the throne. Connected to His throne is a street on which you should walk, and that street is His administration. From the day you repented, you have felt that there is a throne and a golden street, a golden administration, within you. Then you began to do things according to the gold, according to the nature of God. This is because both the throne and the street are built on the gold as the nature of God.
When the brothers are buying a tie, they should buy it according to the divine nature within them. Today the shallow gospel never touches this matter. But in the high peak of the gospel we have to see this. The gospel brings us back to God as our throne, to God as our administration. We have to live a life in which we do everything according to God’s nature. Ephesians 4 says that we should let no corrupt word proceed out of our mouth (v. 29). This is because we are children of God. When we speak anything, we need to remember that we are God’s children; we are golden. To speak corrupt things does not match our golden nature. Our nature today is no longer just dusty but golden. If we take this word, it will change our life. We will be adjusted and regulated by the golden nature of God in all that we do. The sisters will not spend so much time to style their hair, because that is not according to the golden throne, the golden administration.
All our fellowship should be according to God’s golden nature. The river is in the middle of the street, and the street is the golden nature. In this fellowship is the river, the Holy Spirit, as our beverage and our supply to quench our thirst. Then we also have Christ as the tree of life for our life supply to nourish us. In order to experience all of this, we must be on the golden street, the base of gold. We may feel that it is enough to say that our fellowship with God is our contacting God, and our fellowship with the saints is our contacting the saints. But this is not the deciding factor concerning whether or not our fellowship is the fellowship of God. The fellowship of God must be based upon God’s divine nature. I may go to visit a certain brother every day, but is that the real fellowship? Whether that is the real fellowship or not is determined by whether or not it is based upon the golden nature within me. If my contact with a brother is not based upon the golden nature, then I am making a natural friendship with him. I am not practicing the spiritual fellowship of life based upon God’s divine nature.
As we enter into the experience and application of the divine nature of God, we make ourselves genuine parts of the New Jerusalem. Eventually, we become golden in everything. Every department store is a place of temptation where we can depart from the golden nature to buy things. Even in the church life we can make natural friendships with certain saints, but that is not the genuine fellowship. Fellowship should be based upon the golden nature within us. If we practice this fellowship, we are living as a part of the New Jerusalem. We become the constituents of the New Jerusalem. This is not according to our outward doing but according to our inward being. The inward being of our Christian life must be God’s golden nature. We should live, walk, and do everything based upon the golden nature within us.
This is the application of the interpretation of the golden base of the New Jerusalem to the seeking believers. Because God has released the high peak of the divine revelation to us, we all have to learn the high and new language to speak forth the revelation of the New Jerusalem as the greatest and ultimate sign in the Scriptures.
