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Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:2-3a; 2 Cor. 5:17; Col. 3:10-11; Heb. 11:10; 1 Cor. 3:12; Rev. 21:19, 20; Heb. 11:11-16; 12:22; John 1:14a; Exo. 26:15, 29a
We have seen that the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of all the divine, spiritual things in the Bible. We need to have a thorough study of the New Jerusalem since it has never been thoroughly studied and properly interpreted. One point concerning the New Jerusalem that we will be unable to touch or to cover is the twelve foundation stones. To study these stones there is the need of much scholarship. My hope is that the younger generation would continue to study these twelve stones. In order for us to understand the real significance of the New Jerusalem, we have to get into the real significance of its designations. According to my study of the Scriptures, there are five designations: the New Jerusalem, the holy city, the tabernacle of God, the wife of the Lamb, and the mother of the believers.
We need to consider what the designation “New Jerusalem” means. We believers have a bad habit of taking the Bible for granted. Why does the Spirit use the word new in the designation “New Jerusalem”? The Bible reveals to us two creations — the old creation and the new creation. There is nothing of God’s nature involved with any item in the old creation. In other words, God is not in the old creation. In everything of the new creation, however, God’s divine nature is in it. The old man has nothing of God in it, but the new man is not only born of God but also created and constituted with God. None of the new items in the New Testament refer to anything material or physical. Our new heart is something of God (Ezek. 36:26). For our mind to be renewed means that God has been wrought into our mind (Eph. 4:23). All the items that are designated new in the New Testament indicate or imply that God has been wrought into those items. If you do not have God, you do not have a new heart. The new wineskins, the new wine, the new garment, and the New Testament all are designated new because God is in them. The Old Testament was something of the dead letters, but the New Testament has God in it. The New Testament is altogether something of God. It is a testament not only of life but of God. God is revealed in the New Testament, and the New Testament conveys God to us.
By this principle we can see that the old Jerusalem was a physical city. In its constituents there was nothing of God’s nature. However, the New Jerusalem, just like the new man, has God wrought into it. It is new because God has been added in. Anything that is without God is old, but anything in which God is added is new. A piece of furniture is old because it does not have God, but as a believer you are new because you have God wrought into you. Those who have not believed in the Lord Jesus are old because they do not have God. God is newness, and newness is God. Oldness is the old creation, the old I, the old you. When you have God, however, you have the newness. You become new, and you become newness. All the new items in the New Testament, such as the new heart, the new mind, the new man, and the new creation, are new because God has been wrought into these items.
The New Jerusalem as a new creation has God in Christ, possessing the divine nature and the divine life. We cannot have God outside of Christ. Also, Revelation 21 and 22 provide us with many indications that the New Jerusalem possesses the divine nature and the divine life. In the New Jerusalem there are the tree of life and the river of water of life. Besides the divine life, the New Jerusalem does not display any other life. Also, the city itself and the street of the New Jerusalem are pure gold, like transparent glass (21:18b, 21b). In typology gold signifies the divine nature. Thus, the New Jerusalem possesses the divine nature and the divine life.
Also, the New Jerusalem is created in Christ as the new creation with the divine element (2 Cor. 5:17). Some may think that the new creation refers to us believers and not the New Jerusalem. To say this, though, indicates that we do not have the sight to see that the New Jerusalem is a living composition of all of God’s redeemed people, including the New Testament believers and the Old Testament saints. All the redeemed ones composed together are a new creation in Christ, and this new creation has the divine element. The divine element has been wrought into the new creation. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, they have become new.” It would be helpful if we could spend some time to pray-read this verse. To say that all things have become new means that they have become divine, and to say that all things have become new means that all things have become God since God is new and since God is newness.
Furthermore, the New Jerusalem is constituted with Christ as the new man with the divine nature and the divine life (Col. 3:10-11). According to Colossians 3:11, the new man is constituted with Christ because in the new man there cannot be any natural man. Not only is there no natural person in the new man, but there is no possibility, no room, for any natural person. In the new man there is only room for Christ. He is all the members of the new man and in all the members. He is everything in the new man. Actually, He is the new man, His Body (1 Cor. 12:12). In the new man He is the centrality and universality. In the new man “there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3:11). Although the church as the new man is composed with people from many different cultures and races, Christ is actually everything in the new man. This is a matter of constitution. Christ was born into you at your new birth, and from that time Christ is being constituted into your very being to transform you into Christ. Because a certain piece of furniture is made with wood and constituted with wood, we can say that it is wood or wooden. In like manner, because we have been born of Christ and constituted with Christ, we can say that we are Christ (in life and in nature). The Bible tells us that the new man, the church, cannot have the natural man and that what is in this new man is just Christ, not Christ by Himself, in Himself, or with Himself, but Christ in you and with you. Due to the influence and restriction of today’s traditional teaching, we have been very much limited, and even we do not dare to say that we are Christ. However, I hope we would receive a heavenly vision to see that since we have been born of Christ and constituted with Christ, we are Christ.
We like to say that we live Christ, but many times we dare not say this because we have some realization that we do not live Christ all the time. The reason we do not live Christ is that we are void of Christ’s constitution. What we are constituted with is what we live. Some saints told me, “To live Christ is wonderful, but I forget to live Him all the time. When I lost my temper, I remembered that I should have lived Christ, and by then it was too late!” The reason you forget to live Christ is because Christ has never been constituted into you that much. To live Christ does not need you to remember that you have to live Christ. If He has been so much constituted into you, you cannot forget to live Him. Our bad temper is “quicker than electricity.” If we do not have the constitution of Christ for us to remember that we need to live Christ, it is impossible to live Him. How much we live Christ depends upon how much Christ has been constituted into our being. According to our fellowship thus far, we can see that to say the New Jerusalem is a physical city prepared by God is absolutely absurd. There is no way to interpret the consummation of the Bible in this way. Because this city is new, it has been wrought with God and has God as its contents.
The title Jerusalem is composed of two Hebrew words — Jeru means “foundation,” and Salem means “peace.” Paul tells us in Hebrews 7 that the King of Salem is the King of Peace (v. 2). Salem refers to peace, and Jeru refers to something founded, something built, something laid as a foundation. Thus, Jerusalem means “the foundation of peace.” Jerusalem is something grounded, founded, and safeguarded in peace. The Bible indicates that peace is God Himself. In the New Testament are two titles — the God of peace (Phil. 4:9; 1 Thes. 5:23) and the peace of God (Phil. 4:7). Both of these titles indicate that God Himself is our peace. Also, Ephesians 2:14 indicates that Christ Himself is our peace. This peace is God into whom we have been grounded. This is not an outward peace but an inward peace in which we are safeguarded. In eternity we will enjoy peace forever.
The Lord Jesus told us, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). Our Lord also said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have affliction, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” Since the Lord has given us His peace and left us His peace, today we should live in His peace. Actually, the Lord Himself is still here as our peace. Jerusalem is the Triune God to be our peace, to be our safety. The whole New Jerusalem will be an entity of peace. When we consummate in the New Jerusalem, we will be in peace, that is, in the Triune God. The New Jerusalem will be solidly grounded and safeguarded in the Triune God as peace and safety, and we will enjoy the Triune God as peace forever.
The New Jerusalem is also designated as the holy city (Rev. 21:2a). In the New Testament the word holy not only means separated unto God but also saturated with God. In the Old Testament to be made holy was to be separated unto God. There was no saturation of God in the Old Testament, and the holiness or sanctification there was only positional, not dispositional. In the New Testament, though, we see both the objective, positional holiness and sanctification and the subjective, dispositional holiness and sanctification. Romans 6:19 and 22 indicate that sanctification is something subjective and dispositional. In the Old Testament a piece of gold could be made holy and sanctified by changing its position, by putting it in the temple. The church today is made holy not only positionally but also dispositionally.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Paul prays that our whole being — spirit and soul and body — may be sanctified wholly. This is dispositional sanctification where the very holy God is saturating us with His holy nature. In positional sanctification there is only a change of position, but in dispositional sanctification there is the transformation in nature and in element. Therefore, the New Jerusalem is not merely holy in the sense of the Old Testament but holy in the sense of the New Testament. Based upon this principle, we can see that the holy city, the New Jerusalem, could never be a physical city, since a physical city could never be saturated with God. This city is composed with living persons who can be and who are saturated with God. The New Jerusalem is not merely a city separated unto God, but it is also a city saturated with God. In the old Jerusalem and in the old temple we can see the separation but not the saturation with God. In the New Testament, however, the church is God’s temple (1 Cor. 3:16), and this temple is not only separated unto God but also saturated with God. The New Jerusalem is not the Old Testament city but the New Testament city — a city saturated with God.
When I studied Hebrews 11:14-16 as a young believer, I thought that these verses indicate that the New Jerusalem is a physical city. These verses tell us that the Old Testament saints longed after a better country, a heavenly country, and that God has prepared for them a city. In Hebrews 12:22, however, the writer tells us that we have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. This verse does not say that we will come but that we have come to the heavenly Jerusalem. If Mount Zion and the city of the living God were something physical, how could we have come to them even today? Also, this verse does not say that Jerusalem is in the heavens but that it is the heavenly Jerusalem. This city is heavenly in nature. We have received a heavenly call (3:1), have tasted the heavenly gift (6:4), and can live a heavenly life on earth today (Col. 3:1-2).
Hebrews 12:22 clearly indicates that the heavenly Jerusalem is not a physical city, because we have already come to this heavenly Jerusalem. Many Christians are waiting to go to the New Jerusalem, but we must realize that we have come to the New Jerusalem already. The fact that we have already come to the New Jerusalem and the fact that the New Jerusalem is called the heavenly Jerusalem rescued me from my old concept. The church is the house of the living God, so it is God’s home and it is also our home today. When the church is enlarged to be a city, it becomes a heavenly country. Our heavenly country is a city to which we have already come.
This city was designed and built by God (11:10). Hebrews 11:10 tells us that the Architect and Builder of this city is God. The Greek word for architect in this verse can also be translated as either “builder” or “artificer.” This means that God is a skillful designer and a top craftsman. It is not logical to think that our living God designed a physical city.
Ephesians 2:10 tells us that the church is God’s masterpiece. The Greek word for masterpiece is poiema, which means something that has been written or composed as a poem. The church is a poem written by God. Poetry expresses the writer’s wisdom. God makes known through the church His multifarious wisdom (3:10). The New Jerusalem, as the ultimate consummation of the church, is full of wisdom. God designed the New Jerusalem with His wisdom, and this city displays His wisdom. To say that the New Jerusalem is a physical city depreciates God’s wisdom and belittles this eternal, wise Architect. If we have the realization that the New Jerusalem is a sign that signifies many spiritual, divine things, then we begin to see the wisdom of God in this city. God is a wise designer and artificer who designed such a city to be a full manifestation of His multifarious wisdom.
Furthermore, this city is built with the divine materials. First Corinthians 3:12 tells us that in this age, the church age, we should build the church with gold, silver, and precious stones. In the coming age, silver becomes pearl, and the materials in the New Jerusalem are gold, pearl, and precious stones. Paul surely does not mean for us to build the church with actual, literal pieces of gold. If this were the case, no one could afford to build the church. Paul laid the unique foundation of Christ, and now we need to build on the foundation, not with wood, grass, or stubble but with gold, silver, and precious stones. These are signs, not physical materials. Gold signifies God’s nature, silver signifies Christ’s redemption, and the precious stones signify the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. These signs signify the divine work of the Divine Trinity who is being wrought into our being through His divine work. We are now building the church with God the Father’s nature, with God the Son’s redemption, and with God the Spirit’s transforming work. Again, by this we can see that the New Jerusalem should not be a physical city.
This city is also built with solid foundations that are unshakable (Heb. 11:10; Rev. 21:19-20). These foundations are composed of twelve kinds of precious stones. These twelve pieces of precious stones are represented by the twelve apostles. All the apostles were created pieces of clay (John 1:42), but they were regenerated and transformed into precious stones for God’s eternal building. Ephesians 2:20 tells us that the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Hebrews 11:10 tells us that the city has foundations, and in Revelation 21:19-20 we see the twelve foundations of the city.
This city is also a heavenly and better country (Heb. 11:14-16; 12:22). Our country is not a wilderness but a builded city. Although Abraham was expecting and waiting for a city, he may not have received a vision that the city he was expecting would be something divine and spiritual. By the help of the book of Revelation we can see that the very heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God, is not a physical city but absolutely a spiritual and divine entity. What God has actually prepared for Abraham is far better than what Abraham expected. Together with Abraham we all will enjoy this spiritual and divine city. This is really a better country.
Revelation also tells us that the New Jerusalem is the tabernacle of God (21:3a). In the New Testament the tabernacle is first Christ and then Christ enlarged. John 1:14 tells us that the Word who became flesh tabernacled among us. When Jesus Christ was incarnated, He was a tabernacle. The tabernacle in the Old Testament was a material building, but the tabernacle in the New Testament is a person. Furthermore, the temple in the Old Testament was a material building, but in John 2 the Lord Jesus indicated that He Himself is the temple (vv. 19-21). The temple is now a person in the New Testament. In the Old Testament the tabernacle and the temple were both material buildings, but in the New Testament both the tabernacle and the temple are a person. After His resurrection this person was enlarged, multiplied, and propagated, so this person became a corporate person. This is why Paul calls the church the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16). In the Gospels Christ is called the temple, and in the Epistles the church is called the temple. Both are a person, not physical things. Since this is the case, how could the consummation of the New Testament be a physical building? This is altogether illogical. The tabernacle and the temple in the Gospels are a person, the temple in the Epistles is a corporate person, the church, and the New Jerusalem in Revelation as a consummation of the New Testament is a corporate person, not a material building.
The New Jerusalem as the tabernacle of God is built with humanity and divinity combined together as typified by the acacia wood overlaid with gold (Exo. 26:15, 29). Without the type of the tabernacle in Exodus, we could not realize so clearly that the New Testament tabernacle is a combination of humanity with divinity. The standing boards in the tabernacle were made of acacia wood, which is hard, strong, and fine wood, overlaid with gold. The wood and the gold were combined together to be one entity — the standing boards. Gold always signifies God’s divinity, and wood signifies man’s humanity. This shows clearly that Christ as the tabernacle is composed with His divinity plus His humanity. He is the God-man in whom humanity and divinity are combined together.
In the tabernacle, of course, we cannot see the mingling of divinity with humanity, so there is another wonderful type in the Scriptures to reveal this matter to us — the meal offering. The meal offering shows two elements not merely added together but mingled one with the other. In this offering we see the fine flour mingled with oil (Lev. 2:4). In the tabernacle we can see only the combination or addition of gold with wood. In God’s incarnation divinity came into humanity and was added to humanity. In this God-man’s resurrection, humanity was brought into divinity and added to divinity. This is a wonderful two-way traffic. These two natures — the human and divine — are not only added together but also mingled together as one entity, as one person, without a third nature being produced.
Eventually, the New Jerusalem will be a dwelling for both God and His serving ones. In the Old Testament the picture is very clear. The tabernacle was God’s dwelling, and at the same time it was the priests’ dwelling in which they served. Both God and His serving priests dwell in the same tabernacle. To God the New Jerusalem is His dwelling, and to us God is our dwelling, because Revelation tells us that in the New Jerusalem there is no temple, “for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (21:22). This means that we are those serving God in God. God is the object of our service and of our worship, yet God is also our temple in which we serve God. The holy city is God’s dwelling, and the holy city as the temple is God Himself as our dwelling. The New Jerusalem could never be a physical city, because the temple in the city is the Triune God. Actually, the entire city is a mingling of God with His redeemed people, and this mingling is a mutual dwelling for God and His redeemed. God lives in us, and we live in Him. He and we become one mingled entity for eternity. The New Jerusalem is a spiritual, divine, and corporate person, and we are in Him because we have come to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem!
