Search
Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:15-16, 22-24a; 22:5; Deut. 33:27; Psa. 90:1
The dimensions of the New Jerusalem are stressed in Revelation 21:15-16. We have seen that twelve is the number of the New Jerusalem and that the height of the wall is one hundred forty-four cubits, which is twelve times twelve. Revelation 21:16 tells us that the length, breadth, and height of the city are twelve thousand stadia. Twelve thousand, of course, is one thousand times twelve. Ten is a number of completion in the Scriptures, but it is not as complete as a hundred or even one thousand. The psalmist tells us that a day in the Lord’s courts is better than a thousand (Psa. 84:10). The number one thousand is a complete unit, and in God’s eyes one thousand years are equal to one day (2 Pet. 3:8). This indicates that one thousand is the ultimate completion in God’s figuration. Since twelve signifies absolute perfection and eternal completion in God’s administration, twelve thousand signifies a thousand times this.
The measurement of the New Jerusalem shows that it is a cube with three equal dimensions. This means that the entire New Jerusalem is straight, perfect, and complete, without any defect, bias, obliqueness, or shortage. The dimensions of the Holy of Holies, both in the tabernacle and the temple, are equal in length, breadth, and height (Exo. 26:2-8; 1 Kings 6:20). Hence, that the length, the breadth, and the height of the New Jerusalem are equal signifies that the entire New Jerusalem will be the Holy of Holies.
The city is also measured with a golden reed. The reed is for measuring, and measuring signifies to take possession (Ezek. 40:5; Zech. 2:1-2; Rev. 11:1). Since gold signifies the divine nature of God, the golden reed signifies that the measuring of the city, its gates and its wall, is according to God’s divine nature. Anything that does not match the divine nature of God does not belong to the New Jerusalem. The whole city, with its gates and wall, can pass the measuring and testing of the divine nature of God; hence, it is fitting for God’s possession. A reed is not that strong, but the nature of the measuring reed for the New Jerusalem is golden. The holy city is not measured according to man’s concept, idea, philosophy, or qualification, but according to God’s divine nature.
The city lying square (21:16a), signifies that the New Jerusalem is perfect and complete in every way, absolutely straight, without any obliqueness. God’s divine nature is absolutely perfect and eternally complete for God’s divine administration. On this earth today there is no government that is perfect. Every government is full of defects, bias, and crookedness. In God’s eternal, divine administration, however, there is nothing but perfection and completion. The governments of this earth are full of politicians, but in the church we have to learn one thing — do not play politics. In the church, when we say yes, we mean yes, and when we say no, we mean no (2 Cor. 1:17-20). When we say black, we mean black, and when we say white, we mean white. In the church there is no “gray color.” The holy city is not a round city but a square city. To be “round” means to play politics. If you told me that I was a round person, I would feel ashamed. We all need to be “square persons” who are so frank, straight, and open. The city’s being equal in three dimensions as a cube means that the city is perfect to the uttermost with no defects, bias, or obliqueness. The city’s being square has a very spiritual significance. Here there is no politics, no crookedness, and here is God’s frankness, faithfulness, and openness.
In Revelation 21:22 John says, “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” This verse shows that the temple is not something physical or material, but the temple is a personal temple, even the Triune God Himself. The Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb indicate the redeeming Triune God. The Lamb, who is the second of the Trinity, is also the temple. We have seen thus far that the entire New Jerusalem is a cube just like the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle (Exo. 26:2-8) and in the temple (1 Kings 6:20), but here it says that John saw no temple. The temple is a person, and this person is the Triune God, the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. Our God today is the very Redeemer as well as the Triune God, so the redeeming Triune God is our temple. Since our redeeming Triune God is our temple, how could He be a literal cube? Again, we cannot understand this city in a physical way. If we try to understand the city in a physical way, we cannot get through in any direction. The fact that the New Jerusalem is a cube of twelve thousand stadia in three dimensions shows the absolute perfection and eternal completeness of our redeeming Triune God who is the temple and who is the Holy of Holies. With Him there is nothing wrong, and there is no bias, obliqueness, or crookedness.
The city is not a physical thing but a personal entity, and we must understand the New Jerusalem in a personal way. Revelation 21:3 indicates that the city is the tabernacle of God. John saw no temple in the New Jerusalem, because the entire New Jerusalem is the tabernacle of God, a precursor of the temple of God, and it is even the Holy of Holies. We may understand the word tabernacle as a physical thing, but Revelation 21:2 tells us that this city is a bride. The term bride proves that the city is something personal. On the one hand, the New Jerusalem is a tabernacle for God’s dwelling, and on the other hand, the city is a temple for us to dwell in. The tabernacle is good for God to dwell in, and the temple is good for us to dwell in. God being the temple is not for Himself to dwell in but for us to dwell in. The New Jerusalem will be a mutual dwelling place. To God it is a tabernacle, and to us it is a temple in which we dwell and in which we serve God.
This temple, in which we are serving God in this New Testament age, is built with His Trinity with all His attributes plus all His accomplishments. All that He has obtained and attained are the materials for the building up of this wonderful temple that we have today. The designation “the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” signifies the many attributes and accomplishments of the Triune God. We are in such a temple built with the Lord, with God, with the Almighty, with the Lamb, and with all His attributes and accomplishments.
The temple being the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb signifies that the Triune God is our dwelling place in eternity (Deut. 33:27; Psa. 90:1), in which we serve Him. Many people feel that we serve God in the sanctuaries, in the chapels, and in the cathedrals. However, we must realize that the Bible reveals that we serve God in God Himself. We may also say that we serve God in the Spirit. The New Testament shows that the Spirit is the processed Triune God reaching us. When God went to the cross to die for our sins and to accomplish redemption, He was the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world (John 1:29). When God reaches us, however, He is the Spirit.
Actually, we serve God in God Himself as the Spirit reaching us. When we pray, we pray in God Himself as the Spirit reaching us. The proper prayer and the proper service we render to God must be in God Himself. If we pray in ourselves, that prayer is not genuine. The genuine prayer must be to God and in God. God is our dwelling in the New Testament, and even the Old Testament saints had the same consideration. In Deuteronomy 33:27 Moses said, “The God of old is your habitation,” and in Psalm 90:1 Moses said, “O Lord, You have been our dwelling place / In all generations.” This indicates that while Moses was traveling in the wilderness with the children of Israel for forty years, in his deep feeling he was dwelling in God. God was his dwelling place.
When we get into eternity, we will dwell, serve, worship, and pray in the processed Triune God as the Spirit reaching us. The entire New Jerusalem is a great reaching of God to us. We all need to ask ourselves where we pray and where we are staying while we are worshipping God. A great number of times when I was praying and worshipping in my home, I did not have the feeling that I was in my home. Instead, I had the feeling that I was in my redeeming, processed God who was reaching me as the Spirit. In my home I was in the Spirit, praying, worshipping, and enjoying Him.
It is very poor for you to feel that God is far away from you when you pray. You may feel that He is sitting on the throne as the almighty One, and you are so pitiful on the earth, praying in a “poor cottage.” Do you worship God with such a feeling? Do you have the feeling that you are praying in a poor cottage or that you are praying in the triune, processed, redeeming God reaching you as the Spirit? If you are praying with the sense that you are in a poor cottage, your prayer is cold and pitiful. Your feeling may be that you are begging a very hard God who is sitting on the throne and does not care for you. You are like a poor beggar in your prayer, begging a rich man for help. Today in God’s New Testament economy, however, we do not pray that way.
Whenever I pray, I have the deep thought that I am in the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — the processed God, the redeeming God, the God who is now the all-inclusive Spirit reaching me. I am praying to God in God Himself. Whether He answers my prayers or not is secondary. When I pray in this way, I enjoy Him in an excellent way. This kind of prayer makes me ecstatic.
Today we do not have a physical temple, but our temple is our triune, processed, redeeming God, reaching us as the Spirit. Such a Spirit is our temple. We worship and serve God in this temple, and day and night God is our dwelling place. When I was traveling in a plane, I told the Lord, “This plane is not my dwelling place. You are my dwelling place. I am not actually in this plane, but I am in You.” Sometimes when people asked me where my home was, I was hesitant to answer them. It was hard for me to tell them where my home was, because my home is a “floating home.” My floating home, which is always with me, is my triune, processed, redeeming God reaching me as the Spirit. This is my home, my dwelling place.
Even today our God is our temple. It is not reasonable to think that when we enter into eternity, we will have another temple. We will not get out of God and enter into another temple. When we get into eternity, God will be our temple, and this should not be a surprise to us. We should be able to say that while we were living on the earth, we remained in this temple all the time, in our God who is triune, processed, redeeming, and reaching us as the Spirit. The New Jerusalem, this allegory, is the ultimate consummation of the entire divine revelation, and this is a practical application of God being our temple.
Today we are dwelling in this temple. This is our habitation, this is the place where we serve and worship God, and this is the place where we meet. In the church meetings we need to have the realization that we are actually meeting in the triune, processed, redeeming, and reaching God. In eternity the New Jerusalem will be a consummation of today’s reality. The New Jerusalem shows that we are God’s dwelling place as the tabernacle and that He is our dwelling place as the temple. This is not something physical but something altogether personal.
The New Jerusalem as the tabernacle to God and the temple to us indicates a marvelous mingling in that God’s dwelling is our dwelling, and our dwelling is God’s dwelling. We are here to be God’s dwelling, and God is here to be our dwelling. God dwells in us, and we dwell in Him — a mutual indwelling. This corresponds with John 15:4. In eternity future the New Jerusalem will be the tabernacle for God’s dwelling and the temple for our dwelling.
The dimensions of the New Jerusalem indicate that it is the Holy of Holies, and this Holy of Holies is not a physical thing but the divine person. How could the divine person be measured? Is not God immeasurable and unlimited? God is the Holy of Holies, and it has been measured to be twelve thousand stadia in three dimensions. God is immeasurable, but He has some measurements. These measurements show the perfection and completion of our wonderful God. Even today we are in our perfect and complete God as our Holy of Holies, our temple. In eternity the New Jerusalem should not be a new building or a new temple to us. All of us should be able to say that we have been enjoying remaining in this temple for our whole life.
In John 4 the Lord told us that God is seeking the proper worshippers who have to worship Him in spirit (v. 23). In Revelation, however, John tells us that the temple in which we worship is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. John 4:24 also tells us that God whom we worship is Spirit. This is the Triune God reaching us as the Spirit, and this is our temple. Here in this temple, we worship and dwell with God in our spirit. In our human spirit He dwells in us who are His tabernacle, and in the divine Spirit we dwell in Him who is our temple. In our spirit we enjoy our triune, processed, redeeming, and reaching God as our habitation. What an enjoyment! After reading this chapter, we all need to exercise our spirit to get used to enjoying God as our temple.
The New Jerusalem has no need of the sun or of the moon, neither of the light of a lamp (Rev. 21:23a; 22:5a). The fact that there is no need of the sun or of the moon indicates that in the New Jerusalem there is no natural light, and the fact that there is no need of the light of a lamp means that there is no man-made light. God Himself, the very divine person, is the light. The glory of God, the Lord God Himself, illumines the city (21:23b; 22:5b). God is both the light within and the glory without. He is the inner light and the outer expression of the light, the glory.
Such a light needs a lamp, and the Lamb is the lamp of the city (21:23c). We need to ask why God, being the light, needs a lamp. Every electrical light needs a holder or a bulb. Without the bulb, our touching of the electricity may electrify and kill us. In like manner, without the Lamb being the lamp, God’s shining over us would “kill” all of us. However, the divine light shines through our Redeemer. This light has become so lovable and touchable, and we even walk in this light (1 John 1:7). Without the Lamb’s redemption, God’s shining over us could only kill us. God as the light, though, has a holder, and this holder is the Redeemer, the Lamb. The Lamb as the lamp expresses the light in a very approachable and lovable way.
Without the Lamb being the lamp, when the divine light shines, we would all run away. Through the redeeming One, however, the killing light becomes the real shining for us to enjoy. This is again the Triune God. The Triune God, on the one hand, is the light, and the Triune God, on the other hand, is the holder as our Redeemer. He shines and He also holds Himself.
This lamp also has a stand. In Revelation 1 this stand is the golden lampstand, but in Revelation 21 the stand for the lamp is the golden mountain, the city proper of the New Jerusalem. The ultimate consummation of the divine revelation shows God as the light; the Lamb, the Redeemer, as the lamp; and the New Jerusalem as the stand. Furthermore, the nations will walk by the light of the city (v. 24a).
Our Triune God is our lamp, our light, and our temple in whom we serve. We dwell in Him, and He shines within us. We are His tabernacle in whom He dwells, and He is our temple in whom we dwell. He is also our lamp and our light who shines from within us through the lamp. He is in us, and we are in Him. This is a mingling of the divine Spirit with our human spirit. In our human spirit He dwells in us, the tabernacle, and we dwell in Him, the divine Spirit reaching us, the temple. We take Him as our temple, our abode, and then He as the divine light shines from within us. This is the mingling of divinity with humanity, which is our present experience and which will be the coming New Jerusalem.
We are experiencing the New Jerusalem today. I have to testify that I experience being a part of His tabernacle today, and I experience that He is my temple today. I experience that I dwell in Him and that while I am dwelling in Him, He is shining from within me. The New Jerusalem will be the consummation of all that we have experienced for so many years. It will be an intensification and a consummation of our present experience. The New Jerusalem will not be something new to us in eternity future if we are now experiencing it.
