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Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:2-3, 10-23; 22:1-2a, 14, 17, 19
The New Jerusalem has been a puzzle to Bible readers and teachers throughout the twenty centuries of the Christian era. There have been two main schools of interpretation. One school says that the New Jerusalem is a physical city; it will be part of the new heaven and new earth and will be on the earth as a literal city. The second school, which is very shallow, says that the New Jerusalem is the heavenly mansion.
However, we should not think of this city as being physical, nor as a heavenly mansion. Let us put aside these different schools, which come from human understanding.
It is very significant that the New Jerusalem stands at the end of God’s entire revelation and occupies the final two chapters. We need the whole Bible to understand, interpret, and designate what its meaning is. The conclusion of a book must be the final word concerning its contents. This is a principle. Any book that is meaningful surely has some proper, definite contents and also a proper, definite conclusion. Let us come to the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. We must consider its contents and then look at its conclusion.
The Bible is a complete revelation of God’s dwelling place. This dwelling place is for Him to rest, to be satisfied, and to be expressed.
Genesis 1:1 says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then, after all the things in the universe were created, God made Adam on the sixth day. God wanted to have man. He prepared the heavens, the earth, and everything else for this man whom He made in His own image and according to His likeness.
This is a strong indication that God wanted an expression. He wanted something living and organic to bear His image and to have His likeness. Image refers to something inward, whereas likeness refers to something outward. Inwardly, we all have the intellect, the will, and the emotion. Outwardly, we have the likeness, the bodily form.
In Genesis 1 we are told that God created the animals according to their kind and the plants according to their kind. The horse, for example, is according to the horse kind, and the peach tree and the apple tree are each according to their kind. Kind means “a family, a biological genus.” Man, however, was not made according to man’s kind. Man was made according to God’s kind. We men are of God’s kind. We are one family with God because we bear His image and have His likeness. Even though man at this time did not have God’s life or His nature, he did have His image and likeness.
This indicates that God wanted an expression. Genesis 1:26-27 shows that man was not just a single person. Verse 27 says, “God created man in His own image;...male and female He created them.” This indicates that the man here is something corporate. J. N. Darby says that man in Genesis 1:27 means mankind, man as a race. In God’s creation He did something according to His plan to have an expression. Mankind was to express God. This is the beginning of the Bible.
Then the Bible goes on to talk about eight great men: Adam, Abel, Enosh, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Including Adam, these are the eight giants in the first book of the Bible.
When we come to Jacob, without the divine light we can see only a naughty boy. But this naughty boy, while escaping from his brother Esau, slept in the open air and had a dream (28:11-19).
Jacob dreamed of a ladder set up from earth to heaven, with angels ascending and descending on it. The angels were not descending and ascending but ascending and descending. This indicates that the ladder was from earth to heaven. We usually say that our dreams come from what we think. If we have something on our mind, it will come to us as a dream while we are asleep. In Jacob’s case, however, I do not believe that he dreamed what had been in his thoughts during the day. In those days he must have been thinking about how he was running away from Esau. In his dream, though, there was no Esau and no Laban. Jacob saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven. When he awoke, he had an inspiration from God and said, “This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (v. 17). He set up the stone that he had used for his pillow and poured oil on it, calling the name of that place Bethel, which means “the house of God.”
Noah was commissioned by God to build an ark, and Abraham received a promise from God that the entire earth, all humankind, would be blessed in his seed. But this naughty boy, the grandson of Abraham, had a dream. Waking up from that dream, he said something wonderful, something which composes and directs the entire Bible — the house of God. This is a directing point, running throughout the Bible. Out of this naughty boy who had such a dream came a people, the people of Israel.
In the second book of the Bible, Exodus, all the children of Israel were gained by God. He not only rescued them but gathered them together at Mount Sinai. There God gave them a vision (ch. 19), not just a dream. There is a connection between the vision that Moses received from God on Mount Sinai and Jacob’s dream. Jacob in his dream saw something related to God’s house, and now his descendants, a people who came out of Jacob, were there at Mount Sinai with the heavens opened to them. One of their representatives, Moses, went up the mountain to stay with God, and God showed him the pattern of His house, a pattern of how to build the tabernacle.
The tabernacle is God’s house. First Samuel 3:3 calls the tabernacle the temple of Jehovah; that is to say, it was God’s house. The tabernacle as the dwelling place of God was also called the temple, the house of God.
On Mount Sinai Moses saw all the designs, and the children of Israel built a tabernacle according to that pattern. In the last chapter of Exodus the tabernacle was erected, and immediately God’s glory descended from the heavens and filled this tabernacle (40:34). This is marvelous! It was even greater than God’s creative acts. To create the universe was something general, but for God to have a definite spot on this earth that He could descend upon and enter into in the way of glory was truly marvelous. The physical tabernacle was a type of all the children of Israel as God’s dwelling place.
Eventually, that type was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. When the Lord Jesus came, God came. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” and this Word became flesh (John 1:1, 14). We know that this is Jesus in incarnation. When He came in incarnation, He “tabernacled” (v. 14). This indicates that He Himself as the living tabernacle was the fulfillment of the tabernacle in Exodus 40. Jesus as the tabernacle is not a building but a living, organic person. This One who is the tabernacle is a divine person, a wonderful person, a God-man. The first impression the Bible gives concerning the tabernacle is that it is an organic thing, an organic person. Even more it is an organic human mingled with God. The tabernacle is the God-man, Jesus Christ.
At the end of the Bible is the New Jerusalem, the ultimate consummation of the tabernacle (Rev. 21:3). The tabernacle in the two Testaments, both Old and New, is actually a living person of two natures — the human nature and the divine nature. The Lord Jesus was a man composed of divinity and humanity. The Holy Spirit is the divine element, the divinity, and the human virtue is the human element, humanity. Therefore, Jesus’ conception is of the divine element in the human element. This conception brought forth a child of two natures — divine and human. This child was not only human but also divine. He was a God-man, and this God-man was the tabernacle.
Let me stress strongly that this is a tabernacle in the biblical sense. In the Bible the tabernacle is a living person as a composition of the divine nature and the human nature. Because of this, the New Jerusalem cannot be a literal city, nor can it be a heavenly mansion. According to the biblical sense, tabernacle means a living person as a composition of divinity and humanity.
Israel first built the tabernacle. Then when they entered into the good land, God revealed to them through David (2 Sam. 7:2, 5-13) that He wanted to have something solid and not portable. The tabernacle was a “portable” house of God. It could satisfy God temporarily but not permanently. He wanted something solid built on a solid foundation. The temple was not movable or portable but something settled. David knew God’s heart and prepared all the materials for the building of the temple (1 Chron. 22). God had given him a son, Solomon, who would build the temple. This temple was the enlargement of the tabernacle. When it was finished, the things from the tabernacle were brought into the temple (2 Chron. 5:1, 5), indicating that the two were actually one.
In the New Testament the Lord Jesus in John 1:14 is revealed as the tabernacle, but in John 2:19-21 He indicated that He is the temple. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (v. 19). Jesus’ word here indicates that His body was the real temple. He said that He would raise up the temple in three days; He raised up a house of God in resurrection. The house of God that Jesus built up in resurrection is not only Himself but includes His believers also (Eph. 2:6). Thus, this temple built in and by the resurrection of Jesus is a corporate one. This temple is the church. The church is the temple (1 Cor. 3:16).
Many Christians consider the church to be a physical building. They refer to the building as the church or as the sanctuary. Many think of a church as a building with a steep roof, stained-glass windows, and a bell tower.
The Bible, however, reveals that the church is a living composition of the living members of Christ (1 Pet. 2:5). It is an organic composition of all real believers. We are the church. It is not a lifeless building. The church is organic. The church is we, you and I, the persons regenerated by the Spirit with the divine life. It is all the dear saints. The church is an organism. It is living and alive. It is not lifeless, for the components of the church are living persons. We the believers are the components. The church is composed of all the saints, so it is something living.
The church is also a corporate person composed of the two elements of humanity and divinity. We the believers as the components of the church have two natures — a human nature and a divine nature. We received our human nature by our natural birth. Then in our second birth, a spiritual birth, we received another nature, the divine nature. At our regeneration we received the divine life (1 John 5:11). If we have life, surely with that life goes the nature. We are partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4); therefore, we have two natures.
There is a trend today among seminary students to believe that Christians have only one nature, which will be gradually improved. This is not only a wrong teaching; it is heretical. Such a teaching annuls the fact of regeneration.
The church, however, is a living, corporate composition of people with two natures — human and divine. With Christ there was divinity first, then humanity. With us there is humanity first, then divinity. Christ as the tabernacle was a person with divinity plus humanity, and we, as the enlargement of Christ, God’s dwelling place, the very temple, are a composition of first humanity and then divinity. Christ has divinity plus humanity. We have humanity plus divinity. In nature He and we are the same. The only difference is that He has the Godhead, and we do not; yet we do have the divine life and nature as He does. We do not have His headship, His deity.
The New Jerusalem is the consummation of such a temple. Based upon this principle, we cannot say that it is a physical city or a heavenly mansion. Since the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of all the building of God’s dwelling through the generations as the conclusion of God’s entire revelation of His economy, it is altogether organic. It is human beings mingled with God. This composition will be a mutual abode for God to dwell in the saints and for the saints to dwell in God.
The New Jerusalem is a composition of God’s redeemed and regenerated people, who are His sons. This city is also the aggregate of the divine sonship. Ephesians 1 says that we were chosen and predestinated unto sonship (vv. 4-5). The aggregate of sonship will be the New Jerusalem. It is a composition of all God’s sons (Rev. 21:7). Such a building, the holy city, is a living corporate person because it is called the wife of the Lamb (v. 9). A physical city cannot be a wife. A wife is a person; therefore, this city should be a living corporate person.
The contents of God’s building have some elements, which are intrinsic, hidden, and inward. The intrinsic element of the New Jerusalem as God’s eternal dwelling place is the Triune God Himself.
The Divine Trinity is the basic structure of the New Jerusalem. It is structured with the Father’s nature, as signified by gold. The city proper is a mountain of gold, and its street is also gold (vv. 18b, 21b). This indicates that the city is a divine thing. Divinity is the basic element of the contents of the building.
The Son’s redemption through death and resurrection is signified by the pearl. Pearls come out of oysters. They are produced after the oysters are wounded by a grain of sand. The oyster secretes its life-juice around the sand and makes it a pearl. This signifies Christ’s incarnation and His going into the death waters like an oyster. His being wounded for our transgressions and the releasing of His resurrection life produce a pearl.
The Spirit’s transformation is signified by the precious stones. The gold refers to the Father’s nature, the pearl refers to the Son’s redemption through death and resurrection, and the precious stones refer to the Spirit in His transforming work. This means that the very Triune God is the basic structure of the New Jerusalem. The Trinity is also the basic structure of the church life, which is a miniature of the New Jerusalem. The size is much smaller, but the elements are the same.
For our physical life we daily need supply and nourishment. This is why we have to eat at least three times a day. The divine life is the inner supply and nourishment to all parts of the New Jerusalem. This is indicated by the water of life flowing out of the divine throne to saturate the entire city (22:1, 17). In the water grows the tree of life, which bears twelve kinds of fruit every month, twelve months yearly, to feed the entire city (vv. 2a, 14, 19). The water of life and the tree of life with the fruit of life do the supplying and nourishing. The whole city lives on these two items.
The Divine Trinity is the basic structure, the divine life is the inner supply and nourishment, and the divine light is the inward light and the outward glory for the expression. God in the Lamb is the lamp as the inward light (21:23). In the New Jerusalem we will not need the sun, the moon, candles, kerosene, or electricity. We will not need God-created light or man-made light, for we will have God Himself, who is the inward light. At the same time this light shines in and through the precious stone, as a jasper stone, signifying the transformed believers (v. 11). The jasper stone is “as clear as crystal.” God as the light within the Lamb as the lamp is shining through the city. Within the city is the shining light. Without, the light is expressing God’s glory so that the entire city bears the glory of God. The glory of God is God Himself, shining out of the city through the transparent wall of jasper (v. 18). This is what the church should be today — a living composition of God, with Christ as our inner shining light and as our outward expression in glory.
We have been redeemed and regenerated, and now we are being transformed. We are also on the way to being glorified. Our spirit has been regenerated, our troublesome soul is being transformed, and our poor body is awaiting transfiguration.
In the New Jerusalem the Triune God is fully mingled with the redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite man. This mingling is the eternal dwelling of God, signified by the number twelve. Twelve is three multiplied by four. We know this because the city is square with four sides. On each side are three gates (v. 13). For eternity the New Jerusalem will be an absolute mingling, not just an addition. It is multiplication — the Triune God (three) multiplied by man (four).
In the New Jerusalem the number twelve is used fourteen times. Twelve foundations of twelve precious stones bear the names of the twelve apostles (vv. 14, 19-20). Twelve gates of twelve pearls with twelve angels bear the names of the twelve tribes (vv. 12, 21a). The city’s measurement is twelve thousand stadia in three dimensions (v. 16). The height of the wall is one hundred forty-four cubits (v. 17a), which is twelve multiplied by twelve cubits. The tree of life produces twelve fruits in each of the twelve months yearly (22:2). The number twelve, occurring so many times, means that the holy city is a mingling of the Triune God with the tripartite man.
Revelation 21:17b says the wall’s measurement is “the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.” This is a sign that by then man will be like the angels. In Matthew 22:30 the Lord Jesus indicated that in resurrection man will be “like angels in heaven.” Thus, man’s being like an angel indicates the principle of resurrection. The entire city, therefore, will be in resurrection. Christ the Head and we His members will all be in resurrection.
The wall is made of jasper, and the light of the city is like jasper (11, Rev. 21:18). In 4:3 we are clearly told that God sitting on the throne looks like jasper. Jasper, then, signifies God’s appearance. In eternity the New Jerusalem will bear God’s appearance. God looks like jasper, and the entire city will bear the appearance of jasper. This indicates that it will be a corporate and eternal expression of God.
This fulfills Genesis 1:26. The Bible begins the way it ends. It begins with God’s image for His expression, and it ends with a corporate, vast, immense, splendid expression. This is the ultimate consummation of the record of the tabernacle and the temple. The Bible is a record of these two things: the tabernacle and the temple. The conclusion of the Bible is the consummation of the tabernacle and the temple.
What the New Jerusalem is should be true of the church right now. We as the church in the Lord’s recovery must have the Triune God as our structure, with the divine life as our inner supply and nourishment, and with the divine light as our inward shining and outward expression. This is the testimony of Jesus. At the beginning of the book of Revelation there are the lampstands as the testimony of Jesus (1:2, 12). Then at the end of the same book there is the aggregate of all the lampstands, the New Jerusalem, as the eternal testimony of Jesus. Today we should be such a living testimony of Jesus. We are not another Christian work, nor are we simply a Christian group. We are the testimony of Jesus as the lampstand today, which will be consummated in the New Jerusalem. What we will be there, we should first be here.
