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Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:2, 9-14; 12:1-6, 13-17; 19:7-9; John 3:3, 5-6, 14, 29-30; Gal. 4:22-28, 31
As we have seen, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of all the revelations in the Bible. The five designations of the New Jerusalem are: the New Jerusalem, the holy city, the tabernacle of God, the wife of the Lamb, and the mother of the believers. The name by which a person or thing is designated always implies the constituents, the components, the elements, of that certain person or that certain thing. The word dog designates an animal whose elements, composition, and constitution are that of a dog. In the same way all the designations of the New Jerusalem imply its constituents, elements, composition, and constitution. This is why it is important for us to find out the significances of all these designations.
As we have pointed out, the word new, especially in the New Testament, denotes that the divine element has been wrought into God’s creation. There was no divine element wrought into the old creation. However, the church as the new man and the new creation means that the divine element has been wrought into the man created by God. This shows that the New Jerusalem is the old creation with the divine element wrought into it. Furthermore, we have seen that the designation “the holy city” denotes that God’s holy nature has been wrought into the New Jerusalem. This is not merely positional holiness but dispositional holiness, which is God’s nature wrought into His creature. The New Jerusalem is also the tabernacle of God. According to the revelation of the New and Old Testaments, the word tabernacle is used to denote a building composed of two natures — gold and acacia wood. Gold signifies the divine nature, acacia wood signifies the human nature, and these two are added together to become the basic elements for the building up of the tabernacle. Because this is a building of the divine nature and the human nature, it is a building for both God and man, a mutual building. The New Jerusalem is a mutual abode of God and of man.
Based upon these first three titles or designations, it is impossible to say that the New Jerusalem is a physical, material city. How could a physical, material city have the divine element? It is impossible. How could a physical, material city be wrought with God’s holy nature? It is impossible. How could a physical city be built with the divine nature and the human nature and become a mutual abode for God and man? It is impossible. I must admit that my understanding concerning the New Jerusalem was poisoned and occupied by the traditional teachings. These traditional teachings keep us from going further or deeper into the depths of the Holy Bible. In this chapter we want to see the last two designations of the New Jerusalem — the wife of the Lamb and the mother of the believers. The significance of these two designations is much deeper than the first three.
Revelation 21:2 tells us that the New Jerusalem is prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, and Revelation 21:9 refers to the New Jerusalem as the bride, the wife of the Lamb. The first wife in the whole universe was Eve. In Ezekiel 23 the children of Israel are referred to as the wife of Jehovah (vv. 1-4). In John 3 all the regenerated believers are the bride of Christ to be His increase, His enlargement (vv. 29-30). In Ephesians 5 there is the church as the wife of Christ, and in 2 Corinthians 11:2 the believers have been engaged or betrothed to Christ as their Husband. Revelation 19:7-9 unveils a universal wedding day, the marriage of the Lamb. Finally, in the last two chapters of the Bible we see the wife of the Lamb. The Lamb is the embodiment of the Triune God, and the wife is the consummation of all the saints. The Bible concludes and consummates with a divine couple living a married life in eternity.
The New Jerusalem as the wife of the Lamb is composed of the Old Testament saints, represented by the twelve tribes, and the New Testament saints, represented by the twelve apostles (Rev. 21:9-14). The twelve gates of the New Jerusalem are inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. This indicates that the New Jerusalem is composed of all the redeemed saints of the Old Testament. Also, “the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (v. 14). Apostles here indicates that the New Jerusalem is composed not only of the Old Testament saints, represented by Israel, but also of the New Testament saints, represented by the apostles.
In Ezekiel 23:1-4 we see that the old Jerusalem symbolizes the children of Israel as the wife of Jehovah. In these verses Ezekiel talks about Samaria and Jerusalem. In this passage Jerusalem does not denote a physical city but the people represented by the city. The old Jerusalem does not merely denote a physical city but a living people who are a wife to Jehovah.
Also, the New Jerusalem symbolizes the believers as the wife of their Redeemer. In 2 Corinthians 11:2 Paul says, “I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.” “You” in this verse is a corporate you. Many saints have been betrothed to Christ as one corporate virgin. There is one church with many members, and Paul betrothed the believers in a corporate way as one corporate virgin to one husband — Christ.
The wife of the Lamb is one with her Redeemer, as Eve taken out of Adam and attached back to him to be one flesh, two as one in one nature and one life (Gen. 2:21-24; Eph. 5:25-27, 29-32). Eve was originally a piece of bone, a rib, taken out of Adam. This bone was taken out of Adam, builded into a woman, a wife for Adam, and attached back to Adam to be one flesh. These two, Adam and Eve, were as one in one nature and one life. A wife is one who is one nature and one life with her husband. Based upon this significance we must again ask how the New Jerusalem could be a physical city. A physical, material city could never be one with Christ in one life and in one nature. The New Jerusalem is not only something with the divine element added to it and with the holy nature wrought into it, but also it is one with the Redeemer in one nature and in one life.
The wife of the Lamb, as symbolized by the universal and heavenly woman in Revelation 12:1-6, 13-17, is composed of all the Old Testament and the New Testament saints. According to Revelation 12:1, this woman is “clothed with the sun, and the moon underneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (see Message 34 of the Life-study of Revelation). This universal and heavenly woman is the total composition of God’s people on the earth. The sun signifies God’s people in the New Testament age (Luke 1:78), the moon signifies God’s people in the Old Testament time, and the stars signify the patriarchs (Gen. 37:9). We know that this woman is composed of both the Old and New Testament saints because among the sun, the moon, and the stars are the brothers who overcome Satan because of the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 12:11). We also see that the rest of the woman’s seed are those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus (v. 17). Those who keep the commandments of God are the Jews, and those who have the testimony of Jesus are the New Testament believers. When I was a young believer, I read some books which said that this woman was Mary and that the man-child was Jesus. When I studied this woman with her man-child, though, I discovered that this kind of teaching was unscriptural and illogical. After the man-child is brought to the throne of God, there is a period of a thousand two hundred and sixty days, which is the period of the great tribulation (v. 6). This very universal and heavenly woman in Revelation 12 is the wife of the Lamb. This woman is a universal composition of all the saints, and this woman consummates in the New Jerusalem.
The wife of the Lamb is also the consummation of the wife as the church in Ephesians 5:25-27, 29-32. An example may help to illustrate what we mean by the wife in Ephesians 5 consummating in the New Jerusalem. When a certain man’s wife was only ten years old, she was his wife, but she was not consummated to be his wife. As she was growing up, she was consummating. When she finally reached the age of twenty-three to become this man’s bride, that was the consummation of this ten-year-old girl. The bride on that wedding day was the consummation of that little girl. The church in Ephesians 5 is like that little girl who is ten years old, and the New Jerusalem will be the consummated bride. The bride in Revelation 21 can never be improved. She will live forever, but she will not grow. The wife in Ephesians 5, however, is still growing. The church in Ephesians 5 still has wrinkles and spots, but the bride in Revelation 21 has no wrinkles or spots. The New Jerusalem is the consummation of the wife in Ephesians 5. The Lord is still working in the church to cause her to grow.
All the regenerated believers constitute the bride of their Redeemer as His increase, His enlargement (John 3:3, 5-6, 14, 29-30). As a young believer, I was taught in a thorough way concerning regeneration, but no one told me that the regenerated believers constitute the bride. Many believed in the Lord Jesus by the time of John 3. They had been regenerated and had received the eternal life. As a result, the disciples of John became jealous and told John that all were coming to Jesus (v. 26). John then told his disciples that He who has the bride is the Bridegroom, and he indicated that everyone who was regenerated should go to Jesus since He was the Bridegroom. This indicates that all the regenerated believers are composed together to be the bride to match the Bridegroom as His increase. Following this, John said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (v. 30). Many of those in inner-life circles interpret this verse wrongly to mean that we all have to be decreased and that Christ has to increase. The increase in John 3:30, however, is the bride in verse 29, which is a living composition of all the regenerated people. All the believers regenerated by the Triune God should be attached to Him as the Bridegroom. The believers should not have been detached from their Bridegroom to form a religion, taking John as the head. For many years I could not understand why God was seemingly so cruel in allowing John to be put into prison after using him. Then I began to see that John had to be put into prison; otherwise, there would have been two bridegrooms — Jesus Christ and John the Baptist. Since John the Baptist had carried out his ministry to introduce Jesus Christ, it was necessary for him to decrease. All the regenerated ones should not come to John to attach themselves to him. They all need to go and attach themselves to Jesus, the Bridegroom.
The millennium will be the wedding day in which the overcoming saints will participate (Rev. 19:7-9). To the Lord a thousand years are like one day (2 Pet. 3:8), so the millennium will be the wedding day of the Lamb with the church as His bride. A wife is a bride for one day, but after the wedding day she is no longer the bride. The millennium of one thousand years will be one day for the Lamb to marry His bride. In the new heaven and new earth, all the saints of both the Old Testament and the New Testament will be the New Jerusalem, enjoying the divine married life with the Triune God for eternity.
Galatians 4:26-28 and 31 reveal the New Jerusalem as the mother of the believers. This mother is the Jerusalem above, the heavenly Jerusalem (v. 26). It is impossible for a physical city to be a mother bringing forth children. The New Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, the Jerusalem above, is our mother. In Galatians 4 Hagar symbolizes the old covenant of law that condemns and brings in death, bringing forth children unto slavery (vv. 24-25), whereas Sarah symbolizes the new covenant of grace that justifies and brings in life, bringing forth children unto freedom (vv. 26-28, 31). The New Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, the Jerusalem above, is our mother, and this mother is the new covenant of grace. This new covenant is our mother because it brought us forth as children of freedom.
The children brought forth by the old covenant of the law were the children of Hagar, but the new covenant of grace brings forth children of freedom by God as grace to enjoy the Triune God, not by human effort to keep the law. Also, her children become her components. It is a great mystery in the Bible that the children of the mother become the components of the mother.
The center of the New Jerusalem, who is the mother of the believers, is God and the Lamb on the throne (Rev. 22:1). This is the Triune God as the center and the element of the mother of the believers. The element of the new covenant of grace is also the Triune God. Grace is nothing less than God Himself for our enjoyment. When God is revealed, this is truth, and when God is enjoyed by us, this is grace. The new covenant brings us God for our enjoyment, so it is called the new covenant of grace. Furthermore, the real element, essence, and nature of the children of freedom are the Triune God. The element and substance of the components of the mother are also the Triune God. Finally, the center, substance, element, and essence of the ultimate consummation of the Scriptures, the New Jerusalem, are the Triune God. This shows us that the mother of the believers, the new covenant of grace, the components of the mother, and the New Jerusalem are all one. Throughout the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation we see one divine wonderful person — the Triune God. The ultimate consummation of the divine revelation in the Holy Scriptures and of everything that the Triune God has done and achieved is the New Jerusalem, which is the composition of the Triune God mingling Himself with the tripartite man. The New Jerusalem as the divine composition of the Triune God mingling Himself with His redeemed, transformed, tripartite man is the ultimate, universal consummation of all of God’s divine revelation and His divine doing.
The Triune God first created everything including man, and He permitted Satan to be there as the troublemaker in the universe. God’s enemy Satan caused man to fall. Then God became incarnated to be a man to redeem His fallen creature, and He lived with man as a man. This Triune God-man then went to the cross, dying an all-inclusive death. On the cross He was our Substitute, bearing our sins to redeem us from our sins back to God. After His death in the flesh, Christ made a tour of Hades and proclaimed His victory to the rebellious angels (1 Pet. 3:19-20). This wonderful One came out of death and entered into resurrection to become a life-giving Spirit to enter into all the believers. He regenerated us, and He is now transforming and conforming us to His image by making us a divine composition, which is today’s church, tomorrow’s kingdom, and eternity’s New Jerusalem. The history of the entire universe is focused on the Triune God dispensing Himself into His chosen and redeemed people and mingling Himself with them to produce a universal fullness to express Himself. Our eyes need to be opened in order to see such a vision.
To take the new covenant and to keep it is to come to the heavenly Jerusalem and to the church (Heb. 8:7-13; 12:22-23). The new covenant, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the church are one. In order to understand this we must see the link between Galatians and Hebrews. Galatians deals with Judaism, warning the believers not to backslide into Judaism but to stay in grace. Hebrews charges us not to drift into the old covenant but to remain in the new covenant. Chapters 7 through 10 of Hebrews are on the better covenant, the new covenant. Hebrews 8 indicates that the old covenant is over and that the new covenant has come in to replace it. Then in Hebrews 12 Paul tells us that we have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, and to the church (vv. 22-23).
Based upon our fellowship thus far, we can understand that to come to the new covenant is just to come to the New Jerusalem. Without Galatians 4 as a background, it would be hard to understand this. Galatians 4 shows clearly that the mother of the believers, which is the Jerusalem above, the New Jerusalem, is also the new covenant of grace as symbolized by Sarah. To come to the new covenant is not only to come to the New Jerusalem but also to come to the church (Heb. 12:23). To keep the new covenant is to remain in the New Jerusalem. We need to realize that we are not going to the New Jerusalem, but we are in the New Jerusalem already. We have come! The tense of the verb in Hebrews 12:22 is the perfect tense, have come, not the future tense. We know that we have come to the New Jerusalem because the New Jerusalem is the new covenant. Because we have taken the new covenant, we have entered into the New Jerusalem. The taking of the new covenant is the entering into the New Jerusalem.
The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God passing through the long process of His new covenant. Without the Triune God, the new covenant is just an empty shell. The Triune God in His new covenant is imparting and dispensing Himself into all of us all the time, making us His components, the components of His ultimate consummation. The ultimate consummation will not be the Triune God Himself alone, but it will be the mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed, tripartite man — this is the New Jerusalem. We all have to be wrought with God and by God so that we might be fully transformed, saturated, and conformed to God Himself. Then we will be participating in that ultimate consummation. Thank Him that today we are in this mingling of God with man, which is today’s church life. We should remain here and should not be distracted by anything.
