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Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:12a, 14, 17-20, 21b; 22:1-2; 4:3a; Matt. 22:30
In order to enter into the full significance of the divine allegory of the New Jerusalem, we must have a revelation of its wall, its foundation, and its street.
Revelation 21:18a tells us that the wall was built with jasper, signifying the appearance of God (4:3a) for His expression. God sitting on His throne looks like jasper, and the entire wall, a great and high wall, is built with jasper. Also, the first foundation of the wall is jasper. Jasper, according to Revelation 21:11, is “a most precious stone...clear as crystal.” Its color must be dark green, which signifies life in its richness. God’s appearance being like jasper means that His very appearance is life in its richness. Jasper is the appearance of God, which will also be the appearance of the holy city, New Jerusalem (v. 11). The entire city, in appearance, looks the same as God. We all need to see the wonderful picture portrayed in this city. The center of the city is God on the throne who appears as jasper, and the circumference of the city is its wall, which is built with jasper. This means that the entire city from its center to its circumference is an expression of the very God of life in His richness.
Revelation 21:12 tells us that the wall is great and high for separation unto God and for the protection of God’s interest. The height of the wall is one hundred forty-four cubits. A cubit is approximately eighteen inches, so on that basis the wall would be two hundred sixteen feet high. Also, Revelation tells us that the wall is twelve thousand stadia long. Since one stadion is approximately 600 feet, the wall is approximately one thousand three hundred and sixty-four miles long. This is approximately the distance from Los Angeles to Dallas. China boasts of its Great Wall, but the Great Wall of China is not as high as the wall of the New Jerusalem. The wall of the New Jerusalem is at least seven times higher than the Great Wall of China. We need to boast concerning our great wall, which is in the book of Revelation. The Great Wall of China is built with old bricks, but our great wall is built with jasper, and this jasper is as clear as crystal (v. 11). The Great Wall of China is opaque, but our great wall is transparent. No wall on earth can compare with the wall of the New Jerusalem.
With the wall of the New Jerusalem there are seven implications. The wall implies transformation, building, the image of God, the expression of God, the testimony of Jesus, separation, and protection. A wall always separates a particular piece of space from all the other spaces. A wall also protects what is in it from all sorts of negative and evil things. In order to fully understand this allegory of the New Jerusalem, we need to get into these seven implications. We can never exhaust all the significances and all the meaningful and crucial points of this allegory, since it is the ultimate consummation and conclusion of the sixty-six divine books of the Bible.
The foundations of the wall bear the names of the twelve apostles. Each apostle is signified by a precious stone. Peter should be the first of the twelve apostles, and he was named by the Lord Jesus in a “renewing way.” The name Peter means “a stone.” A stone is something created by God but not transformed. All the precious stones are transformed entities. Peter was originally a stone, but eventually he became jasper, the first foundation of the New Jerusalem. The wall itself is jasper, and the first foundation of the wall is also jasper. Peter was first a stone, but in the New Jerusalem he is a jasper stone, the first layer of the wall’s foundation. This implies transformation.
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3 that he laid a foundation as a wise master builder and that we believers need to build upon this foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones (vv. 10-12). Our building of the church needs to be not merely with stones but with precious stones. These are not natural stones but transformed stones that became precious. Peter could never forget the Lord’s changing of his name, so in his first Epistle he indicates that the Lord is a living stone and that we also as living stones are being built up into a spiritual house (2:4-5). Peter’s word implies that once he was dead, but the Lord changed him into a living stone. As a living stone, Peter was always under the transforming work of the Spirit. Transformation is a metabolic change. With such a change, there is always the need of some new element to discharge and replace the old elements. From the day the Lord Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter, He was doing His best to add Himself into Peter. As a result of being under the Lord’s transforming work, eventually Peter became jasper, a precious stone, the first layer of the foundation of the New Jerusalem.
The wall is not built with natural materials merely created by God, but the wall is built with transformed items. We all are God’s old creation, but God put us into Christ to make us His new creation. We all were natural beings, but we have been transformed from the old creation into the new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). In the New Jerusalem there will be no Chinese, American, Spanish, Mexican, Japanese, Korean, French, Italian, German, or any other culture or race. All of us will be fully transformed. I believe that even our color will be transformed. In that day we will all be “green.” We will all be jasper! We will be one people in one color — “green”! All the different colors and all the different cultures will be swallowed up by the rich divine life of the Triune God. This is transformation.
All of us must realize that the church life is a transformed life, a life under transformation. The church life is not a life of a good, natural life, but the church life must be a transformed life. This is why Colossians 3:11 tells us that in the new man there cannot be Greek, Jew, circumcision, uncircumcision, Barbarian, or Scythian, because all of us are under transformation. We are not practicing the church life according to our natural status but according to the transformed life. Transformation is implied in the wall. In the wall of the New Jerusalem there is no piece of natural material. The entire wall is built with jasper — transformed material.
The second implication in the wall is building. To be transformed is one matter, and to be built up is another matter. It is wonderful that you have been transformed, but you have to learn how to be built together with others. When masons are building something with stone, they may need to cut some sharp edges off the stone to make it fit in the wall that they are building. In like manner, our “sharpness” has to be cut off. Do not be so sharp in the church life. If you are too sharp, it will be hard for you to be built up with others. All our sharp corners need to be cut off in order to get along with others.
According to my experience, being transformed is easier than being built up with others. To be transformed is glorious, but to be cut off is a kind of humiliation. Why do I “cut” you, and why do you “cut” me? The reason is for us to fit into the building. Without being cut, you could never fit into the building. You may like to be in the building, but you may not like to be cut. However, as long as you will not agree to being cut, you cannot be built in. We all need to realize that we are under the transformation, but do not forget that following transformation is cutting. Thank the Lord that He is transforming us and cutting us so that we may fit in the building of the wall of His eternal habitation.
The entire great and high wall of the city bears one image. In today’s Christendom each denomination bears a particular and different image from the others. Today in the Lord’s recovery there are over six hundred churches in thirty-nine nations. I thank the Lord that all the churches bear one image. We do not have different images or flavors, but we are one in appearance and one in flavor. The entire wall of the great city bears one unique image — God’s image. The appearance of the city is the same as the One sitting on the throne.
The jasper wall signifies that the whole city, as the corporate expression of God in eternity, bears the appearance of God. Sometimes in our meetings, however, we hear testimonies that convey a little different flavor. Also, we may have seen some activities that bore some other kind of appearance. This signifies a lack of transformation and building. Argument or adjustment does not work in cases like these. You have to pray for the dear ones who voice different flavors and who express a different appearance that they may have the mercy and grace to experience more and more transformation and building. Only transformation and building can bring all the saints into one image with one flavor. All of us need to have God’s image and God’s flavor. In the church there should not be the European, Asian, American, Mexican, Chinese, or any other flavor but only the flavor of the Triune God expressed in His unique image.
The wall of the New Jerusalem also implies the expression of God. The great wall is the unique expression of the jasper God, and the jasper God is expressed in the jasper city through the jasper wall. A picture such as this is better than one thousand words. When we look at this city, which is in the appearance of God for His expression, we can see that today’s Christianity does not match this. With the denominations there are too many different kinds of expressions, but in the church life, which will consummate in the coming New Jerusalem, there is only one expression — the expression of the divine image through transformation and building.
This expression of God in the New Jerusalem will be a testimony of Jesus. On the one hand, the book of Revelation gives the revelation of Christ (1:1), and on the other hand, it shows the testimony of Jesus (v. 9; 12:17; 19:10; 20:4). The expression of the greenish wall is the testimony of Jesus. Jesus was the embodiment of the Triune God. While He was on this earth, He expressed the Triune God. The New Jerusalem will be His enlargement, His increase, and His expansion to express Him as God’s embodiment, and this is the testimony of Jesus. Today every local church must be such a testimony, but it depends upon the degree of transformation and building. The transformation and the building are the basic factors to have the testimony of Jesus expressing the Triune God.
Such a testimony is also for separation unto God. The surrounding wall separates what is in it from all other things. This separation in the New Jerusalem is the absolute sanctification. The designation “the holy city” means the separated city, a city that is separated from anything other than God. The city as the very embodiment of the Triune God is a separated, sanctified, holy city. No other city is as holy or as sanctified as this one, because this city is the embodiment, the increase, and the expansion of God.
The seventh implication of the wall is that it protects God’s interest. It is the circumference of the interest of God, which is the kingdom of God. Whatever is protected within this wall is the very kingdom of God, and this kingdom of God is the economy of God to carry out God’s eternal purpose, which is made according to His desire. The church in every locality today should be such a separated and protected entity. There should be nothing in the church but God’s desire. Only what God wants is within the wall and nothing else.
The wall is also measured according to “the measure of a man, that is, of an angel” (21:17). It is in resurrection that man will be like the angels (Matt. 22:30). Hence, the measure of a man, that is, of an angel signifies that the wall of the city is not natural but in resurrection. The entire wall is something transformed and built up in resurrection. In this sense, all of us in the church life should be like angels. In our natural life we are not like angels, but in resurrection we are. Many of the sisters would like to be angels, but we must remember that if we want to be like an angel, we have to be in resurrection. In the natural life, everyone is a “scorpion,” “gopher,” or “turtle.” But Hallelujah, there is a hope that in resurrection we could be transformed to be like angels.
The wall is something transformed and built up in resurrection, so its measurement is a hundred and forty-four cubits, signifying absolute perfection and eternal completion of absolute perfections and eternal completions. A hundred forty-four is twelve times twelve. Twelve signifies absolute perfection and eternal completion in God’s administration. The wall refers to God’s administration because it encircles, sanctifies, and protects the city. Within this protected city is God’s throne to carry out His administration, which is absolutely perfect and eternally complete. No other number should be ascribed to the church life but twelve. In the New Jerusalem everything is perfect and complete for God’s complete and eternal administration.
Twelve foundations (Rev. 21:14a) signify the foundation of absolute perfection and eternal completion in God’s administration. The twelve precious stones of the foundation indicate the unsearchable riches of the all-inclusive Christ. Every foundation expresses a certain amount of Christ’s riches. The colors of the twelve precious stones of the foundations, which signify the twelve apostles, are as follows: the first is green, the second and third are blue, the fourth is green, the fifth and sixth are red, the seventh is yellow, the eighth is bluish-green, the ninth is yellow, the tenth is apple-green, the eleventh and twelfth are purple. The twelve layers of the foundation in the above colors give the appearance of a rainbow, signifying that the city is built upon and secured by God’s faithfulness in keeping His covenant (Gen. 9:8-17). The entire city is built upon the eternal faithfulness of the faithful God.
The names of the twelve apostles are inscribed on the twelve foundations (Rev. 21:14). As we have seen, the twelve names of the twelve tribes inscribed on the twelve gates of the city indicate that the twelve gates are there to fulfill the requirement of the law and to satisfy the law’s demand upon sinners. The twelve foundations bearing the twelve names of the apostles, who are the representatives of the grace of the New Testament, signify that the New Jerusalem is built upon the grace of God according to the New Testament. The entrance of the city answers the requirements of the Old Testament law, and the foundations of the city show the grace of the New Testament. The law is for the entry, and the grace is for the foundation. We enter into the New Jerusalem according to the requirement of the law, and we are in the New Jerusalem according to and based on the grace of the New Testament.
The street of the city is gold (v. 21b), signifying God’s nature. The street is a part of the city proper, and every part of the city proper is gold. The street being gold means that God’s nature is the way in the city and the way in the church life. We must do everything according to God’s nature since His nature is the way. For a man to divorce his wife is not according to God’s nature, so he should never take this way. In everything we do in the church life, we have to check with God’s nature. Even the way we dress and what we buy should be according to God’s nature. As brothers in the Lord, we should buy our ties according to God’s nature and wear our shoes according to His nature. Some Christians who are concerned about being holy have regulations, but in the New Jerusalem there is only one regulation — the golden street. God’s divine nature is the unique regulation, and this is the way that we have to take and the street that we have to walk on. God’s divine nature is our way and our strength. I praise the Lord that in all the churches so many saints are not regulated by a written code but by the one golden street, which is the divine nature of God. Revelation 21:21 tells us that “the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.” If we take God’s nature as our unique way, we will be pure, without mixture, and transparent, without opaqueness.
In the middle of this street is the river of water of life (22:1-2), which indicates that when you take the way according to God’s nature, the life of God flows within you. The divine life flows in the divine nature as the unique way for the daily life of God’s redeemed people. If I do not buy a tie according to God’s nature, there is no flow of life within me. However, if I buy a tie according to God’s nature, I sense the flow of life. If a husband is going to divorce his wife, this is against God’s nature, and this will lead to spiritual death. However, if this husband would live with his wife and love her according to God’s nature, the river of life would flow within him. Whatever we do according to God’s nature, we immediately have the deep sensation of the flow of life watering us.
The one tree of life growing on the two sides of the river (v. 2) signifies that the tree of life is a vine, spreading and proceeding along the flow of the water of life for God’s people to receive and enjoy. The fruits of the tree of life will be the food of God’s redeemed for eternity. They will be continually fresh, produced every month, twelve fruits yearly. This means that when we walk and move in the divine nature of God, we not only sense the flow of life within us but also sense the supply of life, the nourishment of life, the spiritual food. When we take the divine way, the street of God’s divine nature, we have the life flowing in us, and we also have the life supply nourishing us. Day by day, as we are living such a life and walking according to God’s divine nature, we enjoy the water of life and the tree of life as our supply. We all need a day-by-day experience of the divine street of gold with the river of water of life and the tree of life in its middle, signifying that the life water and the life supply flow in the divine way.
