Search
Scripture Reading: Rev. 21—22
I. The God-men:
А. The God-men constitute the new man to be the constituents of the New Jerusalem.
B. The God-men build up the Body of Christ for the building of the New Jerusalem.
C. The God-men become the overcomers to consummate the New Jerusalem.
II. The New Jerusalem:
А. The union and mingling of all of God’s redeemed through all the four ages of the forefathers, the law, grace, and the kingdom with the processed and consummated Triune God.
B. The consummation of God’s new creation out of His old creation in the four ages from the creation of man to the end of time.
C. An organic constitution constituted with the redeeming processed and consummated Triune God and the redeemed, transformed, and glorified tripartite men as an organism of the consummated Triune God for His eternal enlargement and expression through the glorified tripartite men.
D. The dwelling place of the processed and consummated Triune God, signified by the tabernacle — Rev. 21:3; cf. John 1:14.
E. The counterpart of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God, indicated by the bride in Christ’s one-thousand-year wedding day and the wife in eternity, the precursor of which is the church as the Body of Christ — Rev. 21:2, 9; 19:7, 9; Eph. 5:25-32.
F. The ultimate consummation of the universal woman in Revelation 12:1.
G. The spreading of the processed and consummated Triune God through His redeemed, transformed, and glorified people as His increase for His eternal purpose.
H. The reflection and fulfillment of the divine revelation concerning the garden of Eden:
1. The divine revelation concerning the garden of Eden, created by the eternal Triune God, and the divine revelation concerning the New Jerusalem, builded by the processed and consummated Triune God, reflecting each other:
а. The revelation concerning the garden of Eden, as the beginning of the divine revelation in the Holy Scripture, contains — Gen. 2:8-14, 18-24:
1) The tree of life as the center of God’s eternal economy — v. 9a.
2) A river flowing into four heads to reach the four directions of the earth — vv. 10-14.
3) At the flow of the river three kinds of precious materials: gold, bdellium, and onyx stone, scattered and not yet builded together — vv. 11-12.
4) A couple, signifying Christ and the church — vv. 18-24; Eph. 5:22-29:
a) The wife came out of the husband (signifying Christ) as a part (a rib, signifying the resurrection life of Christ) of him taken out of him in his sleep (signifying the death of Christ) by God, which part God built into a woman (signifying the church) — Gen. 2:21-22a.
b) God brought the woman to the man and made her one flesh with him as her husband to be his counterpart as his increase and expression — vv. 22b-24; John 3:29a, 30; Eph. 1:23.
b. The revelation concerning the New Jerusalem, as the ending of the divine revelation in the Holy Scripture, contains — Rev. 21:1—22:2:
1) The tree of life as the center of God’s eternal economy — v. 2.
2) A river of water of life flowing to reach the four directions of the earth — v. 1; cf. 21:13.
3) Three kinds of precious materials: gold, pearls, and precious stones, built together into a city, the city of New Jerusalem, by the processed and consummated Triune God — vv. 18-21.
4) The entire city of New Jerusalem being a couple:
a) The processed and consummated redeeming Triune God in Christ is the Husband.
b) The chosen and redeemed people of the redeeming Triune God are the wife, produced by the processed and consummated Triune God through Christ’s death and resurrection with the divine life of the redeeming God as the element to be His counterpart as His enlargement and expression in eternity — vv. 2, 9; Eph. 1:23; 3:19.
2. What is revealed in these two parts of the divine revelation in the Holy Scripture is the central line of the entire divine revelation throughout the entire Holy Scripture. This central line should be a controlling principle to our interpreting and understanding of the Holy Scripture.
I. The unique, divine, and organic building in the entire universe:
1. Its base with its street — Rev. 21:18b, 21b:
а. God the Father in His nature (2 Pet. 1:4), signified by the pure gold, is the base on which this organic building is built.
b. The street is a part of the base, indicating that God the Father’s nature is the street (way — John 14:6), which has no turns or corners but is a circling (eternal) spiral, leading up to and joining with the throne of God at the top of the city, out of which issues this organic building’s administration and its supply — Rev. 22:1-2 cf. II. I. 4. a. 3).
2. Its gates with its availability — 21:12b-13, 21a:
а. The Old Testament saints, signified by the pearls, produced by God the Son through His redeeming and life-releasing death and His life-dispensing resurrection, are the gates:
1) An oyster (Christ) lives in the salty water (the world of death) and is wounded by a grain of sand (crucified for the sinner) to produce a pearl by secreting its life-juice (dispensing His life element).
2) The gates are in the number of twelve (eternal completion and perfection in administration), which is composed of three (the Triune God) times (mingles) four (man as God’s creature), signifying that the Triune God mingles with man as His creature for His administration to accomplish His economy.
3) The twelve gates are on the four (man as God’s creature) sides of the organic building, three (the Triune God) on each side, signifying the availability of this organic building toward mankind universally.
b. The twelve gates bear the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, indicating that the entry of the twelve gates, which is the entry of the entire building, is according to the requirements of Israel’s law, which conducts the believers in Christ to Christ (Gal. 3:24), and that the Old Testament saints are constituents of this organic building, to be the initial section of this building for the establishment of its entry for the saints to participate in this organic building as God’s good pleasure and His ultimate goal.
In the previous three chapters we covered mainly the God-men, the new man, the new creation, the Body of Christ, the overcomers, and, in a simple way, the New Jerusalem. In this chapter we will begin to consider the New Jerusalem in a detailed way, pointing out the significance of the New Jerusalem and giving a definition and interpretation of the glorious New Jerusalem.
Bible teachers have had different ways of interpreting the New Jerusalem. Mainly there are two ways: according to the letter and according to the spiritual significance. Some good Bible teachers insist that everything in the book of Revelation should be interpreted according to the letter. In keeping with such a literal interpretation, the seven golden lampstands in chapter 1 should be regarded not as signs or symbols but as actual physical lampstands. Likewise, the New Jerusalem should be regarded literally as a material city. For a period of time we tried to interpret the New Jerusalem in a literal way, but eventually we came to realize that this was not the right way. Then the Lord led us to interpret the New Jerusalem according to its intrinsic spiritual significance.
The book of Revelation itself indicates that we should interpret the New Jerusalem not according to the letter but as a sign: “The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him to show to His slaves the things that must quickly take place; and He made it known by signs” (1:1). A sign is a symbol with a spiritual significance, such as the seven lampstands, signifying the seven churches; the seven stars, signifying the messengers of the churches (v. 20); and the beast from the sea, signifying Antichrist (13:1). In 5:6 Christ is presented as a Lamb. Since Christ is not literally a lamb, the Lamb here must also be a sign. In John 1:29 Christ is called “the Lamb of God.” In the typology in the Old Testament, the passover lamb (Exo. 12:3) signifies Christ as the One offered to God for our redemption. This is the spiritual significance of the sign of the Lamb in the book of Revelation. Just as the Lamb in Revelation 5 is a sign, so the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and 22 is also a sign. Only when we interpret the New Jerusalem as a sign with a spiritual significance will we have a clear view and a proper understanding of the New Jerusalem.
For more than seventy years we have been trying to understand the significance of the New Jerusalem. The city itself is a sign, and the various aspects of the city, such as the street, the gates, and the wall, also are signs. Surely we should not interpret these things according to the letters. Rather, we must seek to understand the spiritual significance of the New Jerusalem in all its aspects.
We need to see how the God-men are related to the New Jerusalem.
The God-men constitute the new man to be the constituents of the New Jerusalem. The constituents of the New Jerusalem are not lifeless materials but living persons, sons born of God to be the God-men.
The God-men build up the Body of Christ for the building of the New Jerusalem. We are building up something in this age — the Body of Christ — that is for something in the next age — the New Jerusalem.
As the members of the Body of Christ, we are now building up the Body of Christ. But here we need to ask a question: With what are we building? The answer is that we are building up the Body of Christ with ourselves. Of course, we are not building with the corrupted self of the fallen humanity; we are building with the self that is being renewed, transformed, and conformed and that will be glorified. Today we are building up the Body of Christ with our regenerated new man.
In today’s seminaries the students are taught to build up the church with the believers as the members. This is correct, but it is not adequate. With what kind of believers should the church be built? Can the church be built with so-called believers who are still natural, fallen persons? Can people be used as constituents for the building up of the church only because they have had their sins forgiven by God and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus? No, such persons are not sufficient for the building up of the Body of Christ.
It is crucial for us to see that God’s salvation has two aspects. We, the believers in Christ, are redeemed by the blood of Jesus, which washes us and which is the basis for God to forgive us and justify us. All this belongs to the redeeming aspect of God’s salvation. The other aspect of God’s salvation is the life-imparting aspect. We are saved, therefore, not only by the redeeming aspect of God’s salvation but also by the life-imparting aspect. John 19:34 tells us that from the pierced side of the crucified Christ two substances came out — blood and water. The blood signifies the redeeming aspect of God’s salvation, and the water signifies the life-imparting aspect. This indicates that in addition to being redeemed we need to be regenerated. This means that we need to have the divine life imparted into us. This not only regenerates us but also transforms us and conforms us to the image of Christ. The believers with whom the church is built should be not only redeemed, forgiven, and justified persons but also regenerated and transformed persons.
Christ’s death was both a redeeming death and a life-releasing death. The life released through His death has been imparted, dispensed, into us in His resurrection by the Spirit. Christ’s death released the divine life from within Him, and now the Spirit in Christ’s resurrection dispenses this released life into the believers.
We all need to realize clearly that we have been saved by the Lord not only through His redemption but also through His life-imparting. On the one hand, in His crucifixion Christ died to redeem us; on the other hand, He died to release the divine life so that it could be imparted into us as His redeemed ones.
As we pointed out in chapter 1, it was by such a death that Christ created the new man. In order for Christ to create the new man, He had to do something more than merely terminate the negative things. He also had to release the divine life from within Him so that it could be imparted into the redeemed persons. The God-men, as this kind of men, not only constitute the new man to be the constituents of the New Jerusalem; they also build up the Body of Christ for the building of the New Jerusalem. How glorious it is that we are now building up the New Jerusalem! Are you not such a builder? We all are co-builders, building an eternal dwelling place for ourselves.
The God-men not only build up the Body of Christ but also become the overcomers to consummate the New Jerusalem. The consummation of the New Jerusalem requires both maturity and increase. The building up of the church as the Body of Christ needs maturity — the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Otherwise, we may have the building without the consummation.
When some hear this, they may ask, “Are we building the New Jerusalem or consummating the New Jerusalem? Is not the consummation a part of building?” Yes, it is a part of building, but it is still something distinct. To illustrate the difference we may refer to the building of a meeting hall. After the building of the hall has been completed, certain things need to be added, such as electricity, in order for the hall to be consummated. In like manner, the God-men as the overcomers need to consummate the New Jerusalem.
Let us now consider what the New Jerusalem is.
The New Jerusalem is the union and mingling of all of God’s redeemed through all the four ages of the forefathers, the law, grace, and the kingdom with the processed and consummated Triune God. It is thus a union and mingling of the redeemed with the redeeming God.
We are not only united to the Triune God — we are mingled with Him. We may use the digestion of food as an illustration of mingling. The food that we eat, digest, and assimilate is eventually mingled with us. Apart from such a mingling, the food could not become our element. It is by being mingled with us that the food becomes us. The Bible tells us that Christ is eatable and that we should eat Him (John 6:51, 57). To eat Him is to have Him mingled with us.
In John 15:4a the Lord Jesus said, “Abide in Me and I in you.” This mutual abiding, this mutual dwelling, is a matter of coinherence. In today’s Christianity, Bible teachers may use the word coexist but seldom use the word coinhere. To coexist is different from to coinhere. To coexist is to exist together at the same time. To coinhere is to exist in one another, to dwell in one another. Coinherence, being a mutual dwelling or abiding, is therefore a mingling.
The New Jerusalem is a mutual dwelling for God and His redeemed. Actually, the New Jerusalem signifies that God as the temple (Rev. 21:22) is our dwelling and that God’s redeemed as His tabernacle (v. 3) are His dwelling place. From this we can see that the New Jerusalem is not only a union of the redeeming God with His redeemed people but also a mingling of God with His redeemed ones.
The New Jerusalem is the consummation of God’s new creation out of His old creation in the four ages from the creation of man to the end of time.
The New Jerusalem, like the Body of Christ, is an organic constitution constituted with the redeeming processed and consummated Triune God and the redeemed, transformed, and glorified tripartite men as an organism of the consummated Triune God for His eternal enlargement and expression through the glorified tripartite men.
The New Jerusalem is also the dwelling place of the processed and consummated Triune God, signified by the tabernacle (v. 3). Revelation 21:3 says clearly that the New Jerusalem, the holy city, is the tabernacle of God. This indicates that the New Jerusalem is God’s dwelling place. The tabernacle made by Moses is a type of this tabernacle (Exo. 25:8-9; Lev. 26:11). This type was first fulfilled in Christ as God’s tabernacle among men (John 1:14). He was God’s tabernacle. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, God dwelt in Him as a tabernacle. Eventually, the type of the tabernacle will be fulfilled in the fullest way in the New Jerusalem, which will be the enlargement of Christ as God’s dwelling place.
The book of Revelation shows that the New Jerusalem is the counterpart of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God, indicated by the bride in Christ’s one-thousand-year wedding day and the wife in eternity, the precursor of which is the church as the Body of Christ (21:2, 9; 19:7, 9; Eph. 5:25-32). On the wedding day the New Jerusalem will be only the bride, but in eternity the New Jerusalem will be the wife of the Lamb as the embodied God. Since the New Jerusalem is the wife of the Lamb, it would be ridiculous to say that the New Jerusalem is a material city. It would be impossible for the embodied Triune God to marry a physical city.
The universal woman in Revelation 12:1 is a “great sign,” signifying all the people of God (footnote 1, second paragraph, Recovery Version) in the first three of the four ages — the age of the forefathers, the age of the law, and the age of grace. She has a crown of twelve stars on her head, signifying God’s people in the age of the forefathers; she stands on the moon, signifying God’s people in the age of the law; and she is clothed with the sun, signifying the people of God in the age of grace. This is a sign of her in the great tribulation at the end of the age of grace.
The New Jerusalem, as the greatest sign, is the ultimate consummation of the universal woman in Revelation 12:1. The New Jerusalem signifies the aggregate of all the chosen and redeemed people of God from all the four ages of the forefathers, the law, grace, and the kingdom (21:12, 14).
The New Jerusalem is also the spreading of the processed and consummated Triune God through His redeemed, transformed, and glorified people as His increase for His eternal purpose. This spreading is illustrated by the vine with its branches in John 15. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches” (v. 5a). The branching out of the vine is the spreading of the vine. In this chapter the Lord Jesus charged us as His branches to bear fruit, that is, to produce new believers as the further spreading of the vine tree. For the spreading of the vine, we all must endeavor to help others to be regenerated to become members of Christ. Such a work is not merely a matter of winning souls but of spreading the Triune God.
The New Jerusalem is also the reflection and fulfillment of the divine revelation concerning the garden of Eden.
The divine revelation concerning the garden of Eden, created by the eternal Triune God, and the divine revelation concerning the New Jerusalem, builded by the processed and consummated Triune God, reflect each other.
The revelation concerning the garden of Eden, as the beginning of the divine revelation in the Holy Scripture, contains four matters (Gen. 2:8-14, 18-24). First, there is the tree of life as the center of God’s eternal economy (v. 9a). Second, verses 10 through 14 speak of a river flowing into four heads to reach the four directions of the earth. Third, at the flow of the river are three kinds of precious materials: gold, bdellium, and onyx stone (vv. 11-12). Here these materials are scattered and not yet builded together. Fourth, there is a couple, signifying Christ and the church (vv. 18-24; Eph. 5:22-29, 32). The wife came out of the husband (signifying Christ) as a part (a rib, signifying the resurrection life of Christ) of him taken out of him in his sleep (signifying the death of Christ) by God, which part God built into a woman (signifying the church) (Gen. 2:21-22a). Then God brought the woman to the man and made her one flesh with him as her husband to be his counterpart as his increase and expression (vv. 22b-24; John 3:29a, 30; Eph. 1:23).
The revelation concerning the New Jerusalem, as the ending of the divine revelation in the Holy Scripture, also contains four matters (Rev. 21:1—22:2). First, there is the tree of life as the center of God’s eternal economy (v. 2). Second, according to 22:1 a river of water of life flows to reach the four directions of the earth (cf. 21:13). Third, there are three kinds of precious materials: gold, pearls, and precious stones. These materials are built together into a city, the city of New Jerusalem, by the processed and consummated Triune God (vv. 18-21). Fourth, the entire city is a couple. The processed and consummated redeeming Triune God in Christ is the Husband. The chosen and redeemed people of the redeeming Triune God are the wife, produced by the processed and consummated Triune God through Christ’s death and resurrection with the divine life of the redeeming God as the element to be His counterpart as His enlargement and expression in eternity (vv. 2, 9; Eph. 1:23; 3:19).
What is revealed in these two parts of the divine revelation in the Holy Scripture is the central line of the entire divine revelation throughout the entire Holy Scripture. This central line should be a controlling principle to our interpreting and understanding of the Holy Scripture.
Next, we need to see that the New Jerusalem is the unique, divine, and organic building in the entire universe. The New Jerusalem is unique; there is no building like it on earth. The New Jerusalem is also divine; that is, it has the same nature that God has. Furthermore, the New Jerusalem is organic. This means that it is living, that it is full of life. In the entire universe only the New Jerusalem is such a divine and living building.
Let us now go on to consider the different aspects of the holy city as the unique, divine, and organic building.
The first aspect that we should pay attention to is its base with its street (Rev. 21:18b, 21b). Some may think that I am using the word base to refer to the foundation of the building. No, the base is distinct from the foundation.
In understanding what the base of the New Jerusalem is, it is helpful to see that, according to Revelation 21, the New Jerusalem must be a golden mountain. The city is pure gold (v. 18), and in length, breadth, and height it is twelve thousand stadia (v. 16). Although the city has twelve gates (v. 12), it has only one street (v. 21b). I would ask you to consider how one street could reach all twelve gates. In order for the street to reach the twelve gates, the street would have to be a spiral. Starting from the throne of God and of the Lamb at the peak (22:1), the street spirals downward until it reaches each of the gates. Only by spiraling in this way could the street, which begins at the throne, reach all twelve gates, which are at the bottom. As we consider these matters, we realize that the New Jerusalem is a golden mountain.
This golden mountain is the base of the city. Some might prefer the word site to the word base, for we often speak of the site of a building. However, because a site may be much larger in area than the building constructed on it, I feel that it would not be accurate to speak of site instead of base in relation to the New Jerusalem. The holy city occupies the entire golden mountain; it is upon this mountain that the New Jerusalem is built. Actually, the New Jerusalem, a city of pure gold, does not have a site, but it does have a base.
Others might suggest that instead of the word base we use the word foundation or the word ground. It would be a mistake to use foundation instead of base, because Revelation 21:19-20 tells us clearly that the city of New Jerusalem has twelve foundations. Hence, we should not regard the base of the city as equal to the foundation. The word ground is very close in meaning to base, but it has a different connotation, and therefore, I prefer not to use it in speaking of the New Jerusalem as a divine, organic building. After much consultation I have selected base as the best term to use. The gates and the wall of the New Jerusalem are built upon the golden mountain as the base.
We have pointed out that the base of the New Jerusalem is a golden mountain. This indicates that God the Father in His nature (2 Pet. 1:4), signified by the pure gold, is the base on which this organic building is built.
The base of the New Jerusalem and its street are joined as one. The fact that the street is a part of the base indicates that God the Father’s nature is the street (way — John 14:6), which has no turns or corners but is a circling (eternal) spiral, leading up to and joining with the throne of God at the top of the city, out of which issues this organic building’s administration and its supply (Rev. 22:1-2).
The golden street signifies that the divine nature should be our way. We should move, act, and do things according to God’s nature. This is much higher than living according to any kind of teaching or instruction. The reason we do not participate in certain worldly amusements should not be that we have been taught not to participate in those things but that in our living we are regulated by the divine nature as our way. The reason I cannot do certain things is that I have God’s holy nature within me and that His holy nature directs me and becomes my way.
Some Christian groups, such as the Pentecostals, charge people to be holy according to a set of rules. For example, they may teach the sisters that, if they would be holy, they should not use cosmetics. This kind of holiness is not according to the nature of God but according to the instruction of “holiness” people. However, among us many sisters refrain from using cosmetics not because of instructions but because of the divine nature. Some sisters who formerly used cosmetics spontaneously stopped using them because they were living according to God’s nature. Others have changed the way they dress or the way they style their hair also because of the divine nature within them. These are examples of walking on the golden street, that is, of living according to the divine nature. Our way is God’s nature, signified by the golden street.
It is very significant that the street has no turns or corners but is a circling spiral, leading up to and joining with the throne of God. This indicates that when we live, walk, act, and have our being according to the divine nature within us, this nature joins us to the throne, where God is the reigning One and where the authority of God is. Out from the throne of God at the top of the city two things issue forth for the New Jerusalem as an organic building — administration and supply. The throne signifies God’s administration, and proceeding out of the throne is the river of water of life. On the two sides of the river grows the tree of life. This signifies the life supply.
The next aspect of this organic building is its gates with its availability (21:12b-13, 21a).
The Old Testament saints, signified by the pearls, produced by God the Son through His redeeming and life-releasing death and His life-dispensing resurrection, are the gates. Here we need to see that Christ’s death has two functions: to redeem and to release the divine life. Many in Christianity speak only of the redeeming function of Christ’s death but not of the life-releasing function. Have you ever heard that Christ’s death has released the divine life so that it can be dispensed into us? Consider the illustration of a grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies (John 12:24). In that death two things are going on simultaneously: the destruction of the shell of that grain of wheat and the release of the life from within the grain for dispensing. This corresponds to what is said in Ephesians 2:15 concerning Christ creating in Himself the new man. The creation of the new man through the death of Christ implies both the termination of our fallen humanity and the release of the divine life for dispensing. The principle is the same with what is revealed concerning the death of Christ in 1 Peter 3:18, which tells us that Christ was put to death in the flesh but was made alive in the Spirit.
A pearl is produced by an oyster. An oyster (Christ) lives in the salty water (the world of death) and is wounded by a grain of sand (crucified for the sinner) to produce a pearl by secreting its life-juice (dispensing His life element). Christ lived in this world of death and eventually was wounded, crucified, for us sinners. Through this wound He released His life so that in His resurrection it could be dispensed into us to make us pearls.
The gates are in the number of twelve (eternal completion and perfection in administration), which is composed of three (the Triune God) times (mingles) four (man as God’s creature), signifying that the Triune God mingles with man as His creature for His administration to accomplish His economy.
The twelve gates are on the four (man as God’s creature) sides of the organic building, three (the Triune God) on each side, signifying the availability of this organic building toward mankind universally.
The twelve gates bear the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. This indicates that the entry of the twelve gates, which is the entry of the entire building, is according to the requirements of Israel’s law, which conducts the believers in Christ to Christ (Gal. 3:24), and that the Old Testament saints are constituents of this organic building, to be the initial section of this building for the establishment of its entry for the saints to participate in this organic building as God’s good pleasure and His ultimate goal. Here we see that, as a people, Israel became the entry for the Gentile sinners to enter into God’s grace. Such an entry has four directions, indicating that the entry is toward the whole world and to all the nations.
We need to be impressed with the fact that this entry is composed with the Triune God mingled with the tripartite man. Israel is the entry because they were the first ones joined to God. Having been joined to God, they then became an entry for the Gentiles to enter into God’s grace. In the next chapter we will see that the wall and the foundations with the precious stones refer to the Gentile believers.
The building of the New Jerusalem includes the gates and the wall. The gates are the initial building, and the wall is the completion of the building. God the Father is the base with the street, God the Son produces the pearls for the gates, and God the Spirit transforms the saints to be the precious stones for the wall. This is the Triune God mingled with the believing Israel and the believing Gentiles to produce the New Jerusalem as a unique, divine, and organic building.
