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In Revelation 21 and 22 we see that we may express Christ as the lamp of the city, the light-bearer, with the glory of God as the light within Him, by which light the nations will walk.
God is the light, and Christ the Son as the Lamb is the lamp. This lamp has God in it as the light. The city as the lampstand shines the light of God in the Lamb. This shining is expressed through the city, that is, through us. We are the expression of Christ, who has God in Him as the light, and this light, which is God Himself shining in Christ throughout the new city, saturates us. We are immersed in God Himself as the light, and we will be the expression of Christ with God as the light.
We need to see the contents of the New Jerusalem. First, the New Jerusalem has God’s glory as the uncreated light and the Lamb as the lamp to shine forth the divine brightness through the entire city (21:23, 11; 22:5b). Here we can see three layers: God is the light, Christ is the lamp, and the church — the New Jerusalem — is the lamp container. God as the light shines in the Lamb as the lamp, and the lamp is in the city. In this picture we can see the organic union. In the holy city God and Christ are organically united, and They and we are also united as one. Therefore, there is an organic union between us and God in Christ. The entire New Jerusalem will be a great organic union. The situation in the New Jerusalem is like that in the church today. The church is a lampstand to shine forth the Triune God as our testimony organically.
Revelation 21 and 22 reveal that God will not be alone for eternity but will be in Christ within the holy city. The New Jerusalem may be compared to a wheel, and God as the light within the Lamb as the lamp is the center and hub of the whole corporate entity. Throughout the ages God has been working in this direction toward this goal. God’s purpose is altogether a matter of our being built together as a corporate entity to become the holy city. God as light shines from within the Lamb as the lamp through the city as the light-bearer to express Himself as the glory.
The glory of God as the light is in the redeeming Lamb as the lamp shining through the New Jerusalem as the light’s diffuser. This indicates that the Triune God is one with His redeemed in His expression shining as light over the nations. In the New Jerusalem there are the light, the lamp, and the diffuser to shine forth the divine light. In John 14:20 the Lord said to His disciples, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” This shows that the light is in the lamp, and the lamp is in the diffuser. The light is God the Father, the lamp is God the Son, and the diffuser is the Body of Christ, the New Jerusalem, to shine the divine light over the nations, the peoples who live around the New Jerusalem.
Revelation 21:23 tells us that Christ as the Lamb is the lamp of the holy city. In the New Jerusalem gold symbolizes God’s nature, and light refers to His divine shining. This shining is in the redeeming Lamb as the lamp to hold the divine light for our benefit so that we may enjoy God as the shining One in the redeeming Christ. Revelation 21:11 indicates that God as the light shines through the New Jerusalem. This verse tells us that “her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.” The Greek word for “light” in this verse can also be translated “luminary” or “light-bearer.” The entire wall of the New Jerusalem is built with jasper (v. 18), and the light of the New Jerusalem is like jasper stone, bearing the appearance of God (4:3) to express Him by her shining. God in the redeeming Lamb is the light, and the city is a luminary, a great light-bearer. This means that God as the divine light shines within and through the redeeming Christ, and this shining enlightens the entire city. Then the entire city becomes a light-bearer. This bearing of God’s light becomes an expression, and this expression is God’s goal. In the New Jerusalem God is light, and His shining is His glory. The shining is the coming out of the light. Hence, when God shines in the city, He is expressed in glory, first in and through Christ, and then in the city and through the saints. God is the light, Christ is the containing lamp, and the city’s wall bears the divine light to express God. Today the believers as children of light (Eph. 5:8) are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14), shining in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation (Phil. 2:15). Eventually, the New Jerusalem as a composition of all the saints will be the light-bearer, shining forth God as light over the nations around her.
The brightness of the glory of the New Jerusalem is like a most precious stone. This precious stone is not the light but the light-bearer. It does not have light in itself, but the light, which is God, has been wrought into it and shines out through it. This indicates that as a part of the coming New Jerusalem, we must be transformed into precious stones with God wrought into our being as the shining light so that we may be the light-bearer to shine as God’s expression.
God shines in Christ through the city, since the whole city will be transparent because everyone in it will have been transformed. There is no more clay, nothing opaque; every bit of clay has been transformed into crystal-clear precious stones. God shines in Christ through the city, and all the nations will walk in this light. Then the whole universe will be headed up in the light shown through this transparent city.
We need to apply this picture to our daily life. Today we have God in the redeeming Christ shining within us, and we are being transformed to be transparent. In our old creation we are opaque, but in our new creation we are transparent. Second Corinthians 3:18 says that we are being transformed into His image from one degree of glory to another degree of glory. Eventually, we will have the appearance of jasper and will fully express the “jasper God” (Rev. 4:3).
A certain saint may be a very good person, but he may still be opaque because he remains very much in the old creation. Because of this, not much transformation has taken place in his being. However, when we are with another saint, we may sense that with him everything is transparent because he has experienced much transformation in life. Many times when we come to a certain brother, we cannot get any light. Our coming to another brother, however, may bring us into the light. Even before he begins to speak to us, we are in the light. When we are at home, we are in darkness, but when we come to this dear saint, our coming brings light to us. When we come to him, everything is clear, darkness is gone, and there is light. Opaqueness is over, and everything is transparent. We all need to be transformed to such an extent that we are full of light and transparent.
The entire city of the New Jerusalem is the diffuser, diffusing the divine light over the nations outside the city (21:24a). We are the diffusers to spread the light. God has spent at least six thousand years to build up a city, and this city needs the light. Without the light the city is in darkness. The illuminating light is God Himself in His glory contained in Christ as the lamp. This lamp is in a diffuser. Today this diffuser that spreads the divine light is the Body of Christ. Eventually, the entire New Jerusalem will be the diffuser of the divine light. All the nations around the city will be under this diffusing with God as the light of glory and Christ as the containing lamp.
Revelation 22:5 says that the Lord will shine upon His saints. In the future the unlimited glory of God will shine forth as light with Christ as the lamp in the New Jerusalem, signifying that Christ is the center of the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth for all eternity. Being illuminated by the Lord God is a blessing to God’s redeemed in eternity. God Himself will shine upon us, and we will live under His illumination.
According to Revelation 21:11, the holy city has the glory of God. Here the glory of God is the expression of God, God expressed. When God is manifested, that is glory. We have been ordained for this glory and called to this glory (1 Cor. 2:7; 1 Pet. 5:10; 1 Thes. 2:12). We are being transformed into this glory (2 Cor. 3:18), and we will be brought into it (Heb. 2:10). Eventually, we will be glorified with Christ (Rom. 8:17, 30) to bear the glory of God for God’s expression in the New Jerusalem. In the holy city both the lamp and the light refer to God’s glory.
The whole city of New Jerusalem is God. The light is God, its glory is the expression of God, and its appearance is God Himself revealed to the nations. All of this should be found in the church life today. The church is God’s temple. God Himself in the church is our dwelling place, and He is also the light that shines out through us to our neighbors. This shining out is also the glory and appearance of the church. This is the church life.
When God completely finishes His work in the church, it will be a transparent city. All the gold in the New Jerusalem is transparent, transmitting the effulgence of God, so that by its light all things may arrive at the oneness. The light effaces death in all things and heads up all things. The city diffuses the light, shining upon the nations (Rev. 21:24).
Revelation 21:24 tells us that the nations will walk by the light of the shining from the New Jerusalem. Even after the millennium the nations will live on the new earth as the peoples (vv. 3-4). These nations will have kings, who will bring their glory into the city. In eternity we the redeemed ones will be the royal family ruling over the nations.
The nations will walk by the light of the New Jerusalem, an organic building. Thus, the entire eternal kingdom of God will be under the shining of God’s glory in the Redeemer through the redeemed as the diffuser. The eternal kingdom of God includes the New Jerusalem and the nations around it. The redeemed who constitute the New Jerusalem are the kings to reign, and the nations around the New Jerusalem are the subjects.
In their relationship with God, the subjects will walk in the light of the New Jerusalem (v. 24a). For their human affairs they will live under the light of the sun created by God and the lamp made by man, but in matters related to God the nations as the subjects will walk in the divine light.
In the millennium the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be intensified sevenfold (Isa. 30:26). I believe that in the new heaven and the new earth the light of the sun will be even brighter than this. Nevertheless, Revelation 21:24 says that the nations will walk in the light of the city. This proves that the light in the city will be stronger than the natural light. God will shine through the city, and this shining will be brighter than either the moon or the sun. Actually, the nations will not need to walk in the sunlight or in the moonlight, for they will walk in the shining of the New Jerusalem.
The New Jerusalem, the ultimate consummation of God’s building, is a full picture of today’s church life. If we are such a miniature of the holy city, we will shine forth with God as the light. Then the unbelievers, the worldly people, will walk in our light. We will enlighten everyone around us.
The church should be such a shining light today, and all our neighbors should walk in the light of our shining. Today the church is the light-bearer, bearing Christ as the light shining to this generation. We need to be such a shining church. There should be a difference between the church people and unbelievers, a difference not of some man-made designation but a difference because of our shining. We must shine so that the nations may walk in our light.
In the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center, all things will be headed up in Christ. This will be the complete fulfillment of Ephesians 1:10, which says, “Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him.” If Christ as life is not able to shine forth from the church to be the light of the nations, all the things of creation will have no way to be headed up in Him. When the nations walk by the light of the city, there will be no harm to men and no damage to things. At that time the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah (Isa. 11:9), and all things will be headed up in Christ.
Because God is the source of life, He recovers the oneness of the universe by entering into man to be man’s life. First, He became a man, a part of “all things” which will be headed up in Christ. He then imparted His life into believers, making them the constituents of the church, and He works in them so that they can shine Him forth as light to all things. Through the shining, all things will walk in the light, be in one accord, and be headed up in Christ. Hence, the condition of oneness in the universe is altogether related to life and death, light and darkness.
At the top of the New Jerusalem, Christ is the Head with God in Him as the content. From Him flows the river of life with the tree of life to supply all His sons, and the redeemed ones as the sons of God are filled with life (Rev. 22:1-2). The whole city shines out this life as light, and the nations, representing the whole universe, walk in the light of this city. Because Christ is at the top of the city as the Head, all things are headed up in Christ through the Body, the church, which consummates in the New Jerusalem. At that time the entire universe will be in harmony, and there will be no more death and, thus, no more darkness and no more confusion. Within, the city is full of life, and without, it is full of light. The whole environment surrounding the city will be under the regulation of this light. Then the entire universe will be headed up in Christ through the church. This will be the full manifestation of Christ being Head over all things to the church, which is His Body.
From Christ as the Head at the top of the New Jerusalem flows the bountiful life to supply us all. We are filled with this life, and spontaneously we shine out this life as light to the whole environment. Then all the surrounding nations, representing the entire universe, walk in this light and are controlled under this light. Thus, they will have real harmony. All things will be headed up in Christ through the church. This is the consummation of God’s eternal purpose.
Within the city there is the life, but outside the city there is only the shining. All the nations are under the shining, but they do not have the life. The life is only in the city, and this life is God Himself imparted to all of His children. By this life they are full of light, and this light will shine through them to bring all creation out of darkness, confusion, and the bondage of corruption in vanity into the order of the manifestation of the sons of God.
Even today this can be realized among us to some degree. When we are filled with Christ under His headship, light shines out of us, and others are under the enlightening of this light. This is a foretaste and a miniature of the coming consummation.
The holy city will be illumined by the shining of God Himself. Revelation 21:24 says, “The nations will walk by its light.” This reminds us of Isaiah 2:5, which says, “House of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of Jehovah.” Light preserves oneness and rules out disorder. The light in the New Jerusalem will control, rule, guide, and keep everything in order. Hence, it will preserve the oneness.
Where life is, there light is also. John 1:4 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” This light is the light of life (8:12). In Revelation 21 we have both life and light. Because the New Jerusalem is saturated with light, it has no need for the light of the sun. In the New Jerusalem we will have the glory of the Triune God as our shining light. In the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem, there will be no night, no death, and no darkness. Instead, there will be life and light. This will cause everything to rise up and be in good order.
Life regulates, and light controls. In the church life we do not have regulations, but we do have the regulating life and the controlling light. When the church is full of life, it is also full of light. Then everyone in the church is regulated by the inward life, not by outward rules, and everyone is controlled and kept in order by the light of life. Here in life and in light, we are headed up. In Revelation 21 we see the Head, the Body surrounding the Head, and all the nations walking in the light of the city (v. 24). This will cause the new heaven and the new earth to be a bright sphere. Therefore, in the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center, all things will be headed up in Christ, thereby fulfilling the heading up of all things in Christ spoken of in Ephesians 1:10.
In order for this to take place, we need the dispensing of life. The life that is dispensed into us eventually becomes the light of men. In the dispensation of the fullness of the times, all the nations will walk in the light of the city. This means that there will be no death, no darkness, no corruption, and no confusion. Instead, everything will be in order, headed up under Christ, the unique Head, to express the Triune God in eternity. This heading up of all things will be an eternal expression of the Triune God. Today’s church life is a foretaste of this. It is a miniature of the new heaven, the new earth, and the New Jerusalem. As those in the miniature, we are enjoying the dispensing of life with light, and we are being headed up in Christ.
God needs a group of people who live in His life and allow His life to shine forth from them in order to bring all things into the light of life to be headed up in Christ. Even though God’s life is in us, if the light of life cannot be diffused out from us, we can never arrive at the oneness. When the life of the Head passes through the church, His Body, and reaches all things, all things become headed up in Christ. Where there is the life of the Head, there is the authority of the Head and also oneness.
Ephesians 1:10 speaks of the heading up of all things, and 4:13 speaks of the church arriving at the oneness. The church arrives at the oneness, and then all things are headed up. When the church arrives at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, all things will be headed up, the church will become transparent, and the light of life within the church will be fully diffused. The light that is diffused shines on all things in order that all things may be in the light. In this way all things are headed up.
Romans 8 shows that the church has not yet arrived at the oneness, because the sons of God have not yet entered into glory. All things are still subject to vanity and are groaning and travailing due to the slavery of corruption (vv. 20-22). Their being subject to vanity proves that all things are not in oneness. However, when the sons of God enter into the freedom of glory, there will be harmony without any struggle, friction, slavery, vanity, corruption, groaning, or travailing. This will be the genuine oneness. Moreover, when the New Jerusalem is expressed, the life within her will shine forth, and the nations will walk by her light. At that time, no one will go astray, walk on the wrong way, or stand on the wrong position. Everyone will be in his own position, walk on the proper way, and be absolutely one. All things will be headed up and in oneness.
God Himself is the life of the church. God’s life operates in the church and shines forth from the church to be light to the nations; this is how He heads up all things. Hence, the heading up of all things is through the church. When we have God in Christ as life to us, life becomes the shining light. Eventually the entire environment, the whole universe, will walk in the light of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:11, 23-24). Under the control of this light, the whole universe, the whole of creation, will be in harmony.
The New Jerusalem is composed of many members, represented by the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles (vv. 12, 14), but they all are one. All the arguing, debating, and fighting will have been swallowed up by life and light. Death will be entirely swallowed up, and all darkness will be chased away by light. Therefore, everyone in the New Jerusalem will be wholly in oneness.
Today, physically speaking, millions of people are walking under the sun by day and under electrical light by night, but spiritually speaking, they are walking in darkness. Yet for eternity in the New Jerusalem the nations will walk in the light of the holy city. God will work out such a city. One day the New Jerusalem will be completed with God shining through this city upon all the rest of creation. This is the age in which God is working to save people and build them up to produce the New Jerusalem as the universal lampstand that holds Christ as the lamp with God within Him as the light. God will shine on all creation through this universal lampstand, and by this shining, this enlightening, God will bring all things into order. All creation will be brought into the order of the manifestation of the sons of God.
God has a process to carry out. He has much work to do in the church. He needs to work Himself into us as life so that we may be full of light and be controlled by this light. Then we will have the oneness, the harmony, and this will be the real building up. It is by this building that God will shine out and shine upon all creation to bring them out of confusion, the slavery of corruption, and vanity. That time will be the fullness of the times. It will be the time that all creation will be liberated, because death will have been swallowed up. After the end of the coming millennial kingdom, the ancient serpent and death will be cast into the lake of fire (20:10, 14). Death will be the last enemy to be dealt with by God (1 Cor. 15:26, 54). After death is dealt with, the universe will be full of light. Under this light all creation will be freed from the slavery of corruption and liberated from vanity and brought into the freedom of the glory of the sons of God, which is the shining of the New Jerusalem. The shining of the New Jerusalem is the manifestation, the glory, of the sons of God. All the nations will be brought into this shining, and they will walk in this light and be controlled by this light. There will be no more confusion; hence, there will be no more vanity and slavery of corruption. Creation will be completely released from the slavery of corruption and will be brought into the freedom of the glory of the holy city.
All this depends on the work of God within and through us. God must work out this city as a corporate vessel that He may be life in every way to us and shine through us as light upon the whole creation. Today God is working Himself into us as life. Therefore, we need to be dealt with, and we need to be permeated and saturated with God. Then we will be full of light, and under this light we will be controlled, have oneness and harmony, be built up, and become the universal vessel through which God will head up all things under the shining of His Body.
God must first work in the church until the church is full of life inwardly and is entirely subject to the Head. Then the church will be one and will arrive at the oneness (Eph. 4:13). After God has worked thoroughly in the church, the restoration of all things will begin. God’s work begins with the church and then spreads outward, passing through the church to all things. The church arrives at the oneness through the church’s arriving at the full knowledge of the Son of God. All things will be enlightened by the light that shines out through the oneness of the church, all will know Jehovah in the light of the oneness of the church (cf. Isa. 11:9), and all will be brought under the Head to arrive at the oneness.
In Revelation 21 we see that God placed the city in the center of the new universe so that the nations might walk by its light (v. 24). Without the city, the nations would be in darkness. Being in darkness is equivalent to being in death. Darkness is always a sign of death; moreover, being in death is to be void of oneness. When the nations walk by the light of the New Jerusalem, all things are one in the light of the city. Isaiah 2:5 says, “House of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of Jehovah,” and 11:9 says, “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah.” The knowledge of Jehovah is light, and light brings everyone into oneness.
If a brother is full of Christ, through this brother’s presence in his home, the light of life will shine forth and enlighten the entire home, enabling others to walk by his light. The light of life from within him will dispel the darkness in his home, and the power of life within him will swallow up any death. Even if the brothers have opinions and are fleshly and the sisters are not in harmony because of their tempers, this one brother’s presence will be as the shining of the New Jerusalem and will eliminate all the quarrels and disharmony. The flesh will not be able to operate, and tempers will not flare up. As a result of his shining, his entire family will walk in the light. Everyone will be in one accord and headed up. This is how God works to bring the entire home into the light.
When life has completely finished its work in the church, the church will be the New Jerusalem. God’s light will then shine forth through the New Jerusalem, bringing all things into the light. At that time darkness will be dispelled and death will have no place. The life of God is in the church and shines forth from the church. Eventually, the nations will walk by the light of life, which the church has received; however, the universe itself will not receive the life of God. Today in the church, the condition of some brothers and sisters may be compared to the center of the new universe, the New Jerusalem, which shines forth the life of God, but the condition of others may be compared to the surrounding nations, which receive the shining and influence of the New Jerusalem.
Every one of us in the church is responsible for allowing the Lord to work and shine in us and to be diffused through us. For us to be mature in life, we must let the cross break us, provide God the opportunity to deal with us, and allow Christ’s life to have the ground in us. Only when Christ is able to diffuse Himself out through us will we be mature. In that day the nations will walk by our light and be brought under the authority of God through our shining. At that time, all things will be headed up in Christ.
Revelation 21:23 is a clear picture of the centrality and universality of Christ. God shines in and through Christ, and Christ shines in and through the New Jerusalem. By this, Christ will be the centrality and universality in the coming eternity, when Christ will be the center, the circumference, and everything in the New Jerusalem.
