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We must have a clear view about the entire Bible. The Bible, comprised of sixty-six holy books, is the divine revelation. The New Jerusalem is the conclusion of such a great book. Also, in this great book, God’s economy, His eternal purpose, His eternal plan, is fully revealed with His divine purpose, which is the highest purpose in the universe. The New Jerusalem is the conclusion of this purpose, of this plan, of this economy.
We must also see that none of the sixty-six books of the Bible has an adequate conclusion. Genesis does not have one. This book is concluded with a dead man in a coffin, buried in Egypt (50:26). Is that a satisfactory conclusion? Then the book of Exodus concludes with something glorious, which is quite in contrast to the conclusion of Genesis — a tabernacle filled with God’s glory (Exo. 40:34). Even though this conclusion is glorious, it is still not adequate. Matthew concludes with a kind of commission. The Lord charged the disciples to go and disciple the nations and to baptize them into the Triune God (28:19-20). Again, this is not an adequate conclusion. The book of John concludes with the matter of fishing (21:1-14), and in Acts we could not see an actual conclusion. The last verse of Acts says that Paul was “proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, unhindered” (28:31). Only one book of the sixty-six books of the Bible, Revelation, has the conclusion of the Bible, because all the sixty-six books conclude with one item — the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the total conclusion of the sixty-six books — the entire, total conclusion of the Bible.
The New Jerusalem is not only the conclusion to the entire Bible but also the consummation of all the items in the Bible. The Triune God, His economy, Christ’s redemption, God’s salvation, the believers, the church, and the kingdom all consummate in this one item — the New Jerusalem. It is imperative that we see that the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of all the subjects, the items, the matters, the persons, and the things recorded in the holy writings. As the consummation, it is an exceedingly great item.
Based upon these few points that I have mentioned, we can realize that the New Jerusalem surely could never be a physical mansion for God’s redeemed to lodge in for eternity. It is too low to say this. This is like the conclusion of a kindergarten textbook. Surely the holy writings as the entire revelation of the great, purposeful God would not end in this way. The New Jerusalem must be the consummation of the Triune God with His economy and the consummation of the wonderful church and the marvelous kingdom. The significance of this consummation must fit all these points. From the entire divine revelation of the Bible we must infer logically that the New Jerusalem surely could never be a physical, lodging place. We must be impressed that the New Jerusalem is the consummation of all the divine items in the Bible. Although this consummation only occupies a little over one chapter in the Bible, it comprises every basic, intrinsic, essential, and genuine item in the entire divine revelation. We must see this.
In order to understand the New Jerusalem properly, I would like to present six reasons why the New Jerusalem could not be a physical mansion.
First, we must realize that the first verse of the book of Revelation tells us how this book was written: “The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him to show to His slaves the things that must swiftly take place; and He made it known by signs” (1:1). This verse tells us that the Lord Jesus made this God-given revelation known to us by signs. It would help us to circle, color, or underline the word signs in this verse. The Lord Jesus made this revelation known to us by signs. The word signs is the key word to interpret the entire book of Revelation. Revelation is a book of signs. Every number in the book of Revelation is a sign. Seven is a sign, four is a sign, twelve is a sign, and ten is a sign. The lampstands (1:11-13, 20) are signs. The Lamb who was slain (5:6) is a sign. The Lion (v. 5) is a sign. The seven stars (1:16, 20) are signs. In 4:3 the One who was sitting on the throne looks like jasper. Jasper is also a sign. In Revelation 12:1 the universal woman crowned with twelve stars, clothed with the sun, and standing on the moon is a great sign. Could such a wonderful woman be merely a single, individualistic female? It is not logical to interpret it in this way. Also in Revelation 12 is a great red dragon (v. 3). This is also a sign, as well as the man-child (v. 5). Then in the next chapter, chapter 13, we see the beast coming out of the Mediterranean Sea (vv. 1-2). That beast signifies the coming Caesar of the coming Roman Empire. It is a sign of a man (v. 18). The harvest in Revelation 14:15 is also a sign, signifying God’s living people. The firstfruits in verse 4 are a sign, which signifies the living overcomers among God’s living people. The number one hundred forty-four thousand is also a sign (v. 1). The glassy sea in 15:2 is another sign. Then in chapter 17 we see a great harlot (v. 1), Babylon the Great (v. 5). This surely will not be a physical city of Babylon, which is today’s Baghdad in Iraq. The great Babylon, the mystery, is a sign in Revelation 17. In chapter 19 we see a bride, the wife of the Lamb, who is clothed with righteousness (vv. 7-8). Do you believe that when the Lord Jesus comes back He will marry a literal woman, a single female? To interpret the signs in the Bible in this way is seriously wrong. I hope that we can see all the signs in this book. What is the last sign, then, of this book of signs? The last sign of this book, which is made known to us mainly by signs, is the New Jerusalem.
Second, the New Jerusalem is not a physical mansion or a physical city for God’s redeemed people to lodge in, because it is altogether not logical to say this. The New Jerusalem, the holy city, is a golden mountain (Rev. 21:16, 18). This mountain is twelve thousand stadia in three dimensions. The length, the breadth, and the height of the city are twelve thousand stadia (v. 16). Twelve thousand stadia is about thirteen hundred and fifty miles, the approximate distance from New York to Dallas. Such a high mountain has only one street, which goes down spirally from the top of the mountain to reach all the twelve gates on the four sides of the city. If this is a real city to lodge in, we must ask how all God’s redeemed throughout all the centuries will be able to lodge there. How could so many people live in a city with only one main spiral street? How could these people travel in a city with only one main street?
We have seen that the book of Revelation was written in the way of signs. If you say that the last sign, the New Jerusalem, is a physical, real city, then what about the lampstands as the first sign in this book? Are the seven stars in chapter 1 real stars? And what about the Lamb? Do you believe that Christ as the Lamb of God is an actual lamb with four legs and a little tail? Is the Lion of the tribe of Judah a real lion like one at the zoo? It is not logical to interpret these signs in the book of Revelation in this way. The New Jerusalem is a sign. It is not a genuine, real, physical city. The great Babylon is also a sign of the false church. The great Babylon and the New Jerusalem are two signs at the end of the book of Revelation. One city is a sign of the false church, and the other city, the holy city, signifies the ultimate consummation of the pure church. The great Babylon is called the great harlot. The New Jerusalem is called the wife of the Lamb. Since Revelation is a book written with signs, the New Jerusalem could not be an exception; it must be a sign.
Third, the New Jerusalem is not a physical mansion, because Revelation tells us that this city is the wife of the Lamb (v. 9). According to the entire Bible, there is a divine romance between God the Creator, the Redeemer, who is the male, and His redeemed people, who are the female. This is a basic thing revealed in the Bible. In the Old Testament God told His redeemed people Israel that He was their Husband and that they were His wife (Isa. 54:5; Jer. 3:14; 31:32; Hosea 2:19). When the Lord Jesus came, John the Baptist told his disciples that Christ was the Bridegroom coming to take the bride, which is the church (John 3:29). Then Paul tells us in Ephesians 5 that the church is typified by the wife, and Christ is typified by the husband (vv. 24-25). Therefore, Christ is the Husband, and the church is the wife. Paul also says that he has betrothed us as a pure virgin to one husband (2 Cor. 11:2), who is Christ. Also, Revelation 19:7 says, “The marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” This wife is the aggregate of all the overcoming saints from Abel until the Lord comes back. The aggregate of all the Old Testament overcomers and the New Testament overcomers is the wife in Revelation 19:7, who will be ready for Christ’s wedding. The New Jerusalem is the consummation of God’s counterpart, the aggregate of all His redeemed and perfected people. In the Bible, beginning from Adam and Eve (Ephesians 5 indicates that Adam and Eve were a type of Christ and the church) to the end of the book of Revelation, there are many portions of the Scriptures that reveal that God is the universal Husband, and His redeemed and perfected people are His universal counterpart to match Him. Such a revelation needs a consummation, and the consummation is the New Jerusalem as the wife of the Redeemer, the Lamb, Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God.
Fourth, the New Jerusalem is not a physical building, because Revelation tells us that the New Jerusalem is God’s tabernacle (21:3) and also that the New Jerusalem is the temple of God (v. 22). John says that he did not see a temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. The tabernacle in the type of the Old Testament was not only the dwelling place of God but also the dwelling place of all His serving priests. The serving priests who served God dwelt with God in the tabernacle. Therefore, the tabernacle is a dwelling place for God and His serving ones. In Revelation 22:3 we are told that all the redeemed and perfected saints in eternity will be God’s serving ones. Therefore, they all will dwell in the tabernacle with God. According to typology, the tabernacle was a precursor of the temple, which brought in the temple. John did not see the temple, because God and the Lamb are the temple, which indicates that God and the Lamb become the dwelling place of His serving ones. This word matches Psalm 90:1, which says, “O Lord, You have been our dwelling place / In all generations.” Therefore, the tabernacle is God’s dwelling place with His serving ones, and this very God who dwells in the tabernacle is the temple, which is the dwelling place of His serving ones. Again, we must realize what a wrong concept it is to say that the New Jerusalem is a great physical mansion for God’s children to lodge in. Revelation says that God Himself, God and the Lamb, will be the temple for us who serve Him to dwell in. Our dwelling place in eternity will be God Himself. We must stress this strongly. God and the Lamb will be the temple in eternity for His people, His serving ones, to dwell in. We will not dwell in a big mansion. We will dwell in God. Hallelujah! He is our temple, and we are His tabernacle. He dwells in us, and we dwell in Him, and this mutual dwelling is the New Jerusalem, which to God is the tabernacle and to us is the temple.
We must realize that the entire Bible is a history of the tabernacle and the temple. Beginning in Exodus 25 we see the tabernacle, which became the center of the Old Testament history. Then this tabernacle entered into the good land and was replaced by the temple, which continued to be the center of the Old Testament history through the book of Malachi. The Old Testament then is a history of the tabernacle and the temple. In the New Testament, first the Lord Jesus was the tabernacle in John 1:14, and He was also the temple in John 2:19-22. In John 2 He indicated that in His resurrection this temple would be enlarged to be a corporate temple, which is the church (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:21). Therefore, the tabernacle and the temple are also the center of the New Testament history. The entire Bible is a book of the tabernacle and the temple. This needs a consummation. The consummation of the tabernacle and the temple is the New Jerusalem because the New Jerusalem will be the eternal tabernacle for God and will be the eternal temple for us. It is the consummation of the tabernacle and the temple in the Bible.
Fifth, the Bible is a book of building. First, God charged Noah to build the ark. Then we see in the Old Testament that Abraham was looking for a city and that his descendants, the children of Israel, built a tabernacle. Later, they entered into the good land and built a temple. In the New Testament the Lord said that He would build His church (Matt. 16:18). He also told the Jews in John 2:19 that if they would destroy “this temple,” referring to the temple of His body (v. 21), He would raise it up in three days. Even Peter rebuked the Jews by saying that they, the builders, had rejected Christ as the cornerstone of God’s building (Acts 4:11). Also, Paul tells us that we are the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15) and that we are God’s building (1 Cor. 3:9). Paul, as the wise master builder, laid the foundation, and we have to build upon the foundation, taking heed not to build with wood, grass, and stubble but with gold, silver, and precious stones (vv. 10-12). Then Peter tells us in his first Epistle that Christ is the living stone for God’s building, and we are like Him as living stones to be built up as a spiritual house (2:4-5). We can see that God’s building is a line throughout the entire Bible, and the consummation of this building is the New Jerusalem.
Sixth, the New Jerusalem should not be interpreted as a physical mansion, because it speaks of the marvelous consummation of our God, the great Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father has an eternal plan with a marvelous economy, and the Son accomplished this economy by becoming incarnated, by His living on this earth, by His dying an all-inclusive death, and by His entering into resurrection and ascension. The Son’s achievements were excellent, marvelous, and very meaningful. Then the Spirit came to apply to us everything that the Son had accomplished. The Spirit worked to regenerate us and is now working within us to transform us, to redeem our body, to transfigure us, to make us just like Christ. By all these the church will be produced and built up, and there will be a kingdom for the overcomers of God’s chosen people to rule the world with Christ. The great Triune God with all His achievements and workings throughout the ages surely needs a marvelous consummation. Could a physical city as a lodging place be a consummation of all these achievements? Absolutely not. The consummation of all that God is and has achieved and accomplished is the New Jerusalem. These six reasons show us that the New Jerusalem could not be a physical mansion or a physical city for God’s redeemed people to lodge in.
If anyone would not accept this vision, how could he answer our questions concerning the New Jerusalem as a sign of the wife as a consummation of all the females in the Bible, typifying God’s counterpart, and of the tabernacle of God as a consummation of all the tabernacles and temples in the entire Bible? How could he answer the questions concerning the building in the Bible needing a consummation, and the great God with His great economy and with all His great achievements needing an ultimate consummation? Without the New Jerusalem there is no consummation to all these things. And how could he explain how a physical lodging place could contain billions of God’s redeemed people? I do not think anyone could answer these questions. And I do hope that these questions and the fellowship we have had would convince and subdue all of us. We must take this conclusion — that the New Jerusalem, as the conclusion of the entire Bible, is the ultimate consummation of God’s great planned economy and great achievements.
The consummation is a living composition of all God’s chosen, redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified people. Such a living composition, with many wonderful living persons, is the consummation of the entire Bible, and this composition is a mutual abiding, a mutual dwelling, a mutual habitation. God inhabits His redeemed people, and His redeemed people inhabit Him. His redeemed people as a composition will be His tabernacle, and He and the Lamb will be their temple. This is marvelous, meaningful, and very significant.
Now we must see the contents of the New Jerusalem. From the throne of God and of the Lamb in the center of the city flows a river of water of life, and in this river of life grows the tree of life. Also, the entire city is enlightened by the light of life. These three items are the intrinsic essence of the Triune God. The intrinsic essence of the Triune God is the divine life. The divine life will be the river (Rev. 22:1), the divine life will be the tree (v. 2), and the divine life will be the light (v. 5). We will drink the river, we will eat the tree, and we will live in the light. These three items are of the intrinsic and basic essence of the Triune God. The light mainly denotes God the Father. Revelation tells us that in the New Jerusalem there is no need of the sun or of the light of a lamp, because the Lord God will be the light, and Christ the Lamb will be the lamp (21:23). The tree of life refers to God the Son, and the river of water of life refers to God the Spirit. This is the Divine Trinity in the divine essence for our living and enjoyment in eternity.
The basic, intrinsic essence of the New Jerusalem is the divine life. The divine life with God the Father is the light, with God the Son is the tree, and with God the Spirit is the river. The light is for us to live in, the tree is for us to feed on, and the river is for us to drink of. This will be our living and our enjoyment of the intrinsic essence of the Triune God for eternity, and He will abide in us, and we will abide in Him. There is a miniature of this mutual abiding in John 15: “Abide in Me and I in you” (v. 4). This abiding in John 15 will be expanded and developed into the New Jerusalem, which will be the consummation of the divine mutual abiding. We abide in Him, and He abides in us for eternity. We will serve Him, and He will be served by us, and this will be the eternal kingdom, the eternal realm of the divine life.
This is the consummation of the entire Bible, of all that God is, and of all that God has accomplished, achieved, and attained. This is our vision. This is the typical, genuine, proper, unique eschatology. Praise the Lord for such an eschatology. The Triune God and all His chosen and redeemed people will be part of this unique consummation.
