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Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:1-2, 9-11
We have seen that the third section of God’s New Testament economy is in the book of Revelation. In Revelation there are the seven Spirits as the intensification of the Triune God in the overcoming church consummating in the golden lampstands in this age and in the New Jerusalem in eternity. This is the finalization of God’s New Testament economy. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of seven main things: the entire divine revelation in the Holy Scriptures; the eternal purpose of God; God’s purpose in man; the mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed, regenerated, and transformed people; the positive types, figures, and signs of the Scriptures; the lampstands in the Scriptures; and all the buildings in the Scriptures.
By reading the Bible we can see God. Although God is a mystery, the Bible reveals Him to us in a great and clear way. The Bible also shows the source of the universe. We do not need to grope like blind men to know the source of the universe, and we do not need Darwin to tell us anything. When we open the Bible, the first verse tells us that God created the heavens and the earth. The Bible also tells us where man came from. Man came from God and was created by God. As a young man reading the Bible, I received much knowledge and revelation, but I was always trying to know the result, the issue, of the sixty-six books of the Bible. According to the black and white letters, we all can see that the last item of the sixty-six books of the Bible is the New Jerusalem.
All of us, however, have been somewhat influenced by the traditional teachings in Christianity, which say that the New Jerusalem is a heavenly mansion. When I was a young believer, there was a gospel song on the New Jerusalem that told people how good heaven was. According to this song, the streets in heaven were golden, and the gates were made of pearl. According to the traditional teachings, the New Jerusalem is such a physical, heavenly mansion. This concept occupied my thought, so I believed that the Bible ended with a heavenly mansion. With our mentality occupied with such a concept, we would never think that the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the entire divine revelation. Since this item is the conclusion of the Bible, logically speaking, it should be the ultimate consummation of the Bible, but the traditional teachings poisoned our understanding.
The thought I adopted as a young believer was that the New Jerusalem was simply a wonderful mansion, and I never gave any room for another thought to come in concerning the New Jerusalem. One of the teachers I was under in the Brethren assembly told us that in John 14 the Lord Jesus said that He was going to prepare a heavenly mansion. After preparing this mansion, He would come back. Since He had not come back yet, this meant that He had not finished His preparation work. This teacher then said that since the Lord Jesus took nearly two thousand years to prepare such a place, how wonderful, marvelous, and excellent that place would be. I received this teaching, and I believed it. I was happy, and I praised and thanked the Lord that He was preparing a wonderful and excellent place for me. This concept occupied my mind concerning the New Jerusalem, but on the other hand, I questioned, “What is the result, what is the ultimate consummation, of these sixty-six wonderful books of the Bible?” By that time I had learned many of the types and prophecies of the Scriptures, but I did not know the result of the divine revelation because this result, this ultimate consummation, was taken away by the traditional teachings of Christianity. There are hardly any Bible readers who understand the last two chapters of the Bible in a proper and adequate way. Many Christians do not spend much time on these two chapters because they think that these two chapters are a record of the heavenly mansion.
The writings of two brothers in particular gave me much help and opened up a little door or a little window for me to get into the real significance of the New Jerusalem. Gerhardt Tersteegen, in some of his hymns, referred to the New Jerusalem in a deeper way. Brother T. Austin-Sparks also mentioned something concerning the spiritual and divine significance of the New Jerusalem. It was not until approximately forty years ago, though, that I really began to get into the significance of the New Jerusalem. In 1963 I wrote a number of hymns concerning the New Jerusalem, which are presently in our hymnal (Hymns, #971, 972, 975, 976, 978-980). By 1963 the Lord had given me nearly a full understanding of this last great sign in the Bible. By this time I dropped any thought that the New Jerusalem is a physical thing. If you consider the New Jerusalem as a physical thing, you make the Bible low, meaningless, and insignificant. We know that the Bible contains the divine revelation; the conclusion of such a revelation, therefore, should be very high and very significant. By 1963 I can testify that I was fully clear that the New Jerusalem is altogether a spiritual, heavenly, and divine sign and not something physical.
If you are a thoughtful person, you may ask why God created man, saved man, and chose and predestinated man. If you are thoughtful, you also have to think about why God is triune — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Why does man have a body, a soul, and a spirit? What is the purpose and what will be the ultimate consummation of all these things? In principle, we have to realize that our God is a God of purpose. He is not a God of meaninglessness, but He is quite thoughtful and purposeful. We need to see and realize what the ultimate consummation of His purpose is, not only in the universe but especially in man. The answer to all these questions is at the end of the Bible, and the answer is the New Jerusalem.
The New Jerusalem is the consummation of every positive thing. It has nothing to do with the negative things such as Satan, the fallen angels, the demons, death, sin, darkness, the grave, Hades, or the lake of fire. It has nothing to do with all these negative things. On the positive side, however, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of God, of God’s salvation, of Christ’s redemption, of the Spirit’s transformation, and of every positive thing in the Bible. All the positive things in the Bible consummate in the New Jerusalem, which is covered in the last two chapters of the entire Bible. God, the Trinity, the Lamb, the lamp, the tree of life, the living water, the throne, and the Spirit are among the many positive items composed together to make one universal, eternal, divine, spiritual, and heavenly unit. The New Jerusalem is surely not a physical city. The New Jerusalem is something divine, spiritual, and heavenly.
The New Jerusalem is first a sign and eventually a consummation. The entire universe needs a consummation. Even God Himself needs a consummation. You must also realize that even you need a consummation. Many sisters who are mothers have the desire to consummate in good children. Most mothers are always thinking about having good children, better children, or the best children. According to their thought, their future, their joy, their fortune, and their fate will be their children. All the mothers, however, need a change of mind in this matter. All of us need to consider the real consummation — the New Jerusalem. We all need to testify that the New Jerusalem is our consummation. I surely will consummate there, and I hope all my children and grandchildren will consummate in the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation.
The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the entire divine revelation in the Holy Scriptures. The conclusion of the sixty-six books of the Bible is contained in its last two chapters, which are on the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate “coming out” of the sixty-six books. The sixty-six books of the Bible cover many, many things that will consummate in one item — the New Jerusalem. Every positive thing in the Bible will have one outcome — the New Jerusalem. Some of us need to study the New Jerusalem to find out all the items of the divine revelation that can be seen there.
The New Jerusalem is also the ultimate consummation of the eternal purpose of God. The Bible reveals God to us, and this God whom we possess is a God of purpose. He is not meaningless but purposeful, and the consummation of His eternal purpose is in the New Jerusalem. We can see the result, the coming out, of God’s eternal purpose only in the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem we see that the very God who sits on the throne is our redeeming God, from whose throne proceeds the river of water of life for our supply and satisfaction. This depicts how the Triune God — God, the Lamb, and the Spirit symbolized by the water of life — dispenses Himself to His redeemed under His headship (implied in the authority of the throne) for eternity.
The New Jerusalem is also the ultimate consummation of God’s purpose in man. God became incarnate to redeem us, and He became a life-giving Spirit to enter into us, to saturate us, to soak us, for His ultimate purpose in man. We must go along with His saturation so that He can fulfill His purpose in the creation of man.
It would be good if we could be transformed forever by one great saturation of the Spirit. However, God does it in the way of life, and He will have it consummated in the New Jerusalem. Our salvation, our spiritual experiences, and our transformation will consummate in the New Jerusalem.
The seven Spirits as the intensification of the Triune God are in the overcoming church. It is hard for us to see the overcoming church today, but for eternity the New Jerusalem will be the overcoming consummation of the church, and all of us, the believers, will be its constituents.
Without the New Jerusalem there is no answer to any question in this universe. Once you see the New Jerusalem, you have the answer to every question. Why did God create man, redeem man, transform man, perfect man, and glorify man? For the New Jerusalem. God wants Himself to consummate in the New Jerusalem, and He wants you to be with Him in this consummation. This is the answer. The New Jerusalem is the answer. It is the ultimate consummation of God’s purpose in man.
Furthermore, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the mingling of the Triune God with man. If God did not have a purpose, He would be foolish to mingle with us. We think that God bothers us frequently, but consider how much bothering we give Him. For example, certain parents may have three children, and there is no way for them to handle one of them. This one is the naughty one. As our Father, God has billions of children. Among these billions of children many of them are naughty. Is it easy for God to handle you as His child? I must testify that it is not so easy for my God to handle me. We may think that a certain Christian is a very good child of God. Actually, however, we do not know the real situation. There is a proverb that says, “Only the fathers know the children.” Only our God, the Father, knows us. If God did not have a purpose to accomplish, it would be foolish for Him to suffer so much. He went to so much trouble not only to save us but also to join Himself to us and to mingle with us.
When we all get there in the new heaven and the new earth as the New Jerusalem, we will be in ecstasy. We will be crazy to the uttermost! The New Jerusalem is much better than a physical, heavenly mansion. It is the full mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed, regenerated, and transformed people. The mingling of God with man can be seen in typology in Leviticus 2:4 with the meal offering, composed of fine flour mingled with oil. The entire New Jerusalem will be the fine flour mingled with the oil. The chorus of Hymns, #976 says that the holy city is God’s complete expression in humanity. Humanity is the fine flour, and God is the oil. The coming New Jerusalem will be a great meal offering, a big cake, made of fine flour mingled with oil. The Triune God is being mingled with us today, and this mingling will consummate in the New Jerusalem.
The New Jerusalem is also the ultimate consummation of the positive types, figures, and signs of the Scriptures. In Genesis 2 we see the tree of life, a river, gold, bdellium, onyx stone, and a couple — Adam and Eve. In the New Jerusalem we also see the tree of life, the river of water of life, gold, pearl, precious stone, and a divine couple with the Lamb as the Husband and His redeemed people as His wife. Also, in the New Testament Jesus performed many signs. His incarnation, death, and resurrection were all signs. The bread of life, the living water, the door for the sheep, and the Shepherd, are all signs. All these signs will consummate in the New Jerusalem.
The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the lampstands in the Scriptures. The lampstand in the tabernacle signifies Christ Himself (Exo. 25:31-37). The lampstand in the temple signifies the enlarged Christ (1 Kings 7:49). The lampstand in Zechariah 4:2 signifies the people of Israel. Finally, the lampstands in Revelation 1 signify the churches (vv. 12-13, 20). Christ in His incarnation was a lampstand, and He was enlarged in His resurrection. The children of Israel as God’s people were also a lampstand, and the churches as God’s chosen people are the lampstands. The one aggregate of all the lampstands will be the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem in figure is a gold mountain (21:18) like a stand. Christ is the lamp on the stand (v. 23), and God is the light within Him (22:5). In the first chapter of Revelation there are the seven lampstands, the churches, and in the last two chapters there is the one unique lampstand — the New Jerusalem, which is the consummation of all the lampstands.
Finally, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of all the buildings in the Scriptures. In the Bible we see the building of the tabernacle (Exo. 25:8-9), the building of the temple (1 Kings 6:1-2), the building of Jerusalem (Psa. 122:3), the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 3:8-9), the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Neh. 2:17), and in the New Testament the building of the church. The Lord Jesus told us in Matthew 16:18 that He would build His church upon this rock, and Peter indicates in his first Epistle that we are all living stones for God’s building (2:5). Paul, furthermore, tells us that he was a wise master builder who had laid the foundation of Christ, and all of us need to build on this foundation with gold, silver, and precious stone (1 Cor. 3:9-12). The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of building work throughout the ages.
