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I. The church
А. What the church is
1. The called out assembly
2. The Body of Christ
3. The counterpart of Christ
4. The house of God
5. The new man
B. The constituents of the church
C. The two aspects of the church
1. The universal aspect
2. The local aspect
D. The designation of the church
1. It has no special name
2. It may be designated by the name of its locality
II. The kingdom
А. The divine image and the divine authority
B. The kingdom and the chosen race
C. The kingdom in the New Testament
D. The kingdom of God
E. The kingdom not being suspended
F. The three aspects of the kingdom of the heavens
III. The New Jerusalem
А. Not a physical city
B. The crystallized product and masterpiece of God’s work of the new creation throughout the generations
C. A composition of the redeemed saints throughout the generations
1. The Old Testament saints
2. The New Testament believers
D. The bride of the Lamb
E. The consummation of the Bible
[The church is the goal God wants to obtain in His eternal economy. Each one of us who is saved participates in this goal, that God may obtain His heart’s desire according to His good pleasure. Therefore, we must also know the church.]
The Lord Jesus Christ said that He will build His church (Matt. 16:18). [The church is what Christ will build through His death, resurrection, and ascension. The term “church” is ekklesia in Greek, which means the called out assembly. Thus, according to its literal meaning, the church is the congregation called out from the world by God. It is not a church building or any edifice for the worship of God.]
The apostle Paul said, “The church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23). [The church is the Body with Christ as the Head; it is constituted for Christ in His life and Spirit with all those who have believed into Him. It is a living organism and not a lifeless organization like the clubs and associations in society.
The body of a man is the fullness of a man to be his expression. Likewise, the church is the fullness of Christ to be His expression. Since Christ is the One who is unlimited and extensive, and who fills all in all, He needs a great Body to be the fullness of Himself who fills all in all to express Him in all things.]
Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” [This word reveals that the church is also Christ’s counterpart. As the Body of Christ, the church receives life from Him for His expression; this is a matter of life. As the counterpart of Christ, the church receives His love for the satisfaction of His heart’s desire; this is a matter of love.]
The Bible also tells us, “That you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). [To Christ, the church is His Body and His counterpart, while to God, the church is His house. On the one hand, this house refers to God’s dwelling place, and on the other hand, it refers to God’s family, God’s household. These two, God’s household and God’s dwelling place, are just one. God’s household is the very house for God’s dwelling (Eph. 2:19, 22). A person’s house is his place of living, residing, and rest. The church, being God’s house, is also such a place to God. Today, the living God is living, residing, and resting in the church on the earth.
God is living, and the church as His house is also living, having the life of God, living, residing, and resting with God. Thus, the living house of God is the pillar and base of all His reality, which is the reality (truth) of the universe. Everything of this living God is the reality in the universe. Without Him, the universe is vain and empty; yet all His reality is being supported and upheld by the church, which is His living house.]
Colossians 3:10-11 says, “And having put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him; where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all and in all.” [Just as all of mankind is a corporate old man created in Adam, the church is also a corporate new man. Christ, having abolished on the cross all the ordinances which caused discord among men, created this new man in Himself (Eph. 2:14-15). This new man bears the image of its Creator, Christ, who is its life and its content. In this new man, there are no persons of the old creation belonging to any race, religion, culture, or class. Only Christ is all the constituents of this new man and is in all its constituents. The church as the Body of Christ takes Christ as its life for His expression; the church as the new man takes Christ as its person for the fulfillment of God’s will.]
“The church of God...those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints” (1 Cor. 1:2). [The church is constituted with all those who have believed into Christ and who possess His life. Any person who has not believed into Christ and has not been saved cannot become a constituent of the church. Without being saved, even our closest relatives are not constituents of the church. Only after they are saved and have the Lord’s life to become saints are they constituents of the church.]
“On this rock I [Christ] will build My church” (Matt. 16:18). [The church mentioned by the Lord in this verse is in the universal aspect. It is unique, including all who have believed into Him in the universe through all the ages and in every place.]
“If he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church” (Matt. 18:17). [The church mentioned by the Lord in this verse is in the local aspect. It is numerous and its local believers can speak to it. According to the local aspect, the church appears in every locality. Each local church includes only those who have believed into Christ in that place.]
[The church is unique and has no need of special names. The church is the church; there should not be kinds of churches that are denominated according to their kind, such as the Presbyterian church, the Lutheran church, and the Baptist church. To denominate the church in this way is needless and not according to the biblical revelation.]
[Although the church is unique in the universe, it is numerous in its local manifestation. The many local churches do not differ in nature; their difference is only in the different places where they are. Therefore, we may use the name of the locality in which a local church is to designate that church, such as the church in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1), the church in Antioch (Acts 13:1), and the seven local churches in the province of Asia (Rev. 1:4, 11).]
[Genesis 1 says that God created man in His own image and that He gave man the authority to rule all the created things (v. 26). In the creation of man the two vital things are the divine image and the divine authority. If we are to have the full image of God to express God and to realize the full authority to represent God, to subdue His enemy, to subdue this earth, God Himself must be our life.] [The divine life to be received by man is for two things: to express God on the positive side and to deal with God’s enemy on the negative side. To express God, man needs the image of God. To deal with the enemy of God, man needs the authority of God. The divine authority, which is something of the kingdom, is revealed throughout the entire Scriptures.]
[After man became fallen, God chose the race of Abraham. The first race, the race of Adam, failed God. But after the great flood, God began again with a second race of mankind, the race of Noah. This second race also failed God. Then God chose the third race, the race of Abraham, after the time of Babel. The purpose of God’s choosing of Abraham is revealed in Genesis 12:1-2. These two verses tell us that God chose Abraham with the intention of having a kingdom. The Lord told Abraham that He would make of him “a great nation” (v. 2). This great nation is a kingdom. The kingdom is a sphere, a realm, to exercise authority. Without the kingdom God can never exercise His authority. For God to accomplish His purpose, He must have a realm, a sphere, as a kingdom for Him to exercise His authority. This is why the Lord Jesus mentioned the kingdom when He taught the disciples to pray in Matthew 6. At the beginning of the Lord’s prayer and at the end of it the kingdom is mentioned. The beginning of the Lord’s prayer says, “Let Your kingdom come” (v. 10). The end of this prayer says, “For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen” (v. 13).]
[In the New Testament the first preacher was John the Baptist. The first word preached by him was “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 3:2). When the Lord Jesus began to preach the gospel He said the same thing as John the Baptist: “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 4:17). When the Lord sent the disciples to preach the gospel He charged them to say, “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 10:7). The book of Revelation tells us that at the Lord’s coming back after His judgment upon the nations, the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of Christ (11:15). Eventually, in the millennium the Lord will rule as a king with all His victorious saints (Rev. 20:4, 6). Revelation shows that in the accomplishment of His eternal purpose God eventually will have a kingdom in which He can exercise His authority to the fullest extent. The Scriptures clearly reveal this line of the kingdom of God in which or through which God can exercise His authority to accomplish His eternal purpose.]
[A kingdom is not a simple matter. For example, the United States as a nation, a kingdom, is not a simple matter. The kingdom of God includes many things that need to be understood. In the Old Testament there is the kingdom of Israel. In the New Testament there is the kingdom of the heavens. Then after the church age there will be a period of a thousand years known as the millennium. The millennium is a kingdom of a thousand years (Rev. 20:4, 6). If we read the Scriptures carefully, we will see that even in the millennium there are some further divisions. The kingdom of Israel in the Old Testament, the kingdom of the heavens in the New Testament, and the millennial kingdom after the church age are parts of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God runs from eternity to eternity. It is a realm, a sphere, in which God can rule and exercise His authority. From eternity past to eternity future there is such a thing called the kingdom of God. In this kingdom, God exercises His authority to rule over all things.]
[Some Bible teachers claim that when the Lord Jesus came, He came with the kingdom and presented it to the Jewish people. When the Jewish people rejected Him, He received back the kingdom and the kingdom was suspended. According to these Bible teachers, the church age is not the time of the kingdom because the kingdom has been suspended. When the Lord comes back He will also bring back the kingdom. Even Dr. C. I. Scofield taught in such a way, but the Bible reveals that the kingdom of God has never been suspended. In Matthew 21:43 the Lord said clearly that the kingdom of God would be taken from the Jewish people and given to another people, that is, to the church. This indicates that the kingdom of God has never been suspended. Then after the Lord’s resurrection and before His ascension to the heavens, He stayed with the disciples for forty days. In those forty days the Lord spoke concerning the things of the kingdom of God: “To whom also He presented Himself alive after His suffering by many convincing proofs, through a period of forty days, appearing to them and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). This again indicates that the Lord has never suspended the kingdom of God. Acts 8:12 says, “They believed Philip, bringing the good news concerning the kingdom of God.” When the apostles preached the gospel, they preached the kingdom of God. The kingdom has never been suspended. The kingdom of God was preached by the apostles even after the ascension of the Lord and after Pentecost. Acts 14:22 says, “Establishing the souls of the disciples, entreating them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.” Some Bible teachers say that the kingdom of God is merely a matter for the Jewish people, but here the apostles were exhorting the Gentile churches to continue in the faith so that they could enter into the kingdom of God. Romans 14:17 is another verse which shows us that the kingdom of God has not been suspended: “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” With the period of the Holy Spirit, there is still the kingdom of God. Also, the context of this verse is dealing with the church life in the present age. Other verses which show us that the kingdom of God has not been suspended are 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 1 Corinthians 15:50, Galatians 5:21, Ephesians 5:5, 2 Thessalonians 1:5, Revelation 11:15, 12:10, and 2 Timothy 4:18 which says, “The Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will save me unto His heavenly kingdom, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” Near the end of Paul’s journey as a Christian, as a servant of the Lord, he said that the Lord would save him unto His heavenly kingdom.]
[With the kingdom of the heavens there are three aspects: the external appearance of the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 13), the reality of the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 5—7), and the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 24—25). If we are going to understand the kingdom of the heavens we must know these three aspects. On the day of Pentecost, the appearance of the kingdom of the heavens and the reality of the kingdom of the heavens began. The manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens begins with the coming back of the Lord Jesus. When the Lord comes back, the kingdom of the heavens will be manifested. On the one hand, we can say that the kingdom has started already, but this is just the appearance and the reality, not the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens. The appearance of the kingdom of the heavens includes all of the false Christians, but only the victorious, overcoming Christians are in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. When the Lord Jesus comes back, that will be the time of the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens.]
We should exercise to be in the reality of the kingdom every day throughout the day so that we will be the ones to bring in the manifestation of the kingdom. The simple way to accomplish this is to get revived every morning by calling on His name and contacting Him through pray-reading two or three verses. We can overcome by pray-reading throughout the day. This type of exercise will prepare us for the kingdom as well as hasten the coming of the kingdom.
[The New Jerusalem cannot be a physical city, as commonly believed by Christians, for the following reasons:
First, the New Jerusalem is the crystallized product of God’s work in the old creation throughout the generations. If this crystallized product is merely a physical city, it would seem to be too low and would not have any spiritual value.
Second, the New Jerusalem is the consummation of the entire divine revelation in the Bible. If it is merely a physical city, it would make the divine revelation of mystery not so mysterious after all.
Third, the revelation of the entire book of Revelation is mainly made known to us by signs (Rev. 1:1) symbolizing the important persons and things, such as the golden lampstands in 1:12, signifying the churches bearing the shining testimony of Jesus Christ; the stars in 1:16, signifying the bright and shining messengers of the churches; the mysterious Babylon the Great in 17:5, signifying the religious Rome; and the bride in 19:7, signifying the overcoming saints as the spouse of Christ. Hence, the New Jerusalem also should be a sign signifying the dwelling place of God and man in eternity.]
[After God finished the creation of all things and man, He used different ways in the different dispensations in the old heaven and old earth to carry out His work in the man of the old creation by choosing, redeeming, renewing, transforming, and glorifying them; thus, He perfects them according to His desire and builds them up to be His eternal habitation, which is the New Jerusalem of His heart’s desire. This is the crystallized product and masterpiece of God’s work of the new creation throughout the generations.]
[The New Jerusalem is a composition of all the redeemed and perfected saints in both the Old and New Testaments throughout the generations.]
[The names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel are inscribed on the gates of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:12). This indicates that the Old Testament saints are the components of the New Jerusalem. Gates as the entrance into the city indicate that the Old Testament is the child-conductor who will lead the believers to Christ (Gal. 3:24). The Old Testament history of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel leads us into the New Jerusalem through the pearl gates, which signify Christ who has died and resurrected.]
[The names of the twelve apostles are on the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:14). This indicates that the New Testament believers are also the constituents of the New Jerusalem. All the New Testament saints who have been led into Christ are being built upon the foundation of the apostles (Eph. 2:20), that is, being built upon the revelation which the apostles received for the building of the church, to become the wall of the New Jerusalem.]
[Revelation 21:2 and 9 clearly tell us that the New Jerusalem is the bride, the wife of the Lamb. In the whole Bible God repeatedly likens His chosen people to a spouse (Isa. 54:6; Jer. 3:1; Ezek. 16:8; Hosea 2:19; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:31-32) for His satisfaction in love. As the wife of Christ, the New Jerusalem comes out of Christ to be His spouse, just as Eve came out of Adam and became his counterpart (Gen. 2:21-24). The bride is mainly for the wedding day, while the wife is for the entire married life. The New Jerusalem will first be the bride of Christ in the millennium for one thousand years as one day (2 Pet. 3:8), and then His wife in the new heaven and new earth for eternity. The bride in the millennium will include only the overcoming saints (Rev. 3:12; 19:7-9), but the wife in the new heaven and new earth will include all the redeemed and regenerated sons of God (Rev. 21:7).]
[The Bible is a record and a revelation of God’s two great works, the first being God’s work of the old creation, and the second, God’s work of the new creation. God’s work of the old creation is a preparation for His work of the new creation. It is His work of the new creation that will accomplish His divine and eternal economy. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of His two great works; it is the masterpiece of His divine work and the crystallized product of His works of the old creation and the new creation. The New Jerusalem is mysterious, divine, glorious, and holy. Its revelation is the conclusion and consummation of the whole Bible, including both the Old and New Testaments.]
[The New Jerusalem revealed in the last two chapters of the New Testament is the conclusion of the whole Bible, as well as of the New Testament; it is also the consummation of the entire divine revelation. God’s work in the universe is of two categories, the old creation and the new creation. The sphere of His work of the old creation was the old heaven and old earth; the sphere of His work of the new creation is the new heaven and new earth, which are the original God-created old heaven and old earth renewed through the burning of God’s judging fire. Since the completion of the creation of the old heaven and old earth and everything therein, and since the fall of man, God has used four different dispensations — the dispensation of the Patriarchs, the dispensation of law, the dispensation of grace, and the dispensation of righteousness — to carry out the work of the new creation in man, who is of the Satan-ruined and God-judged old creation, by the Spirit and life of Himself as the Triune God who has been processed through incarnation, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension; by His heavenly ministry after His ascension; and by what He will accomplish in His second coming. God first used the dispensation of the Patriarchs to lead the created and fallen sinners to look to the coming Christ in whom all the families on earth would be blessed. Because they did not know their own weakness and wickedness, God further used the dispensation of law to expose their condition that they might be led to Christ. Following this, He uses the dispensation of grace to work the fallen sinners into Christ and to work Christ into them, thus producing the church. Finally, He will use the dispensation of righteousness to reward the perfected Old Testament saints and the overcoming New Testament believers in Christ; He will also perfect the immature New Testament believers in Christ that they may arrive at the maturity in His life. At the end of the dispensation of grace, He will use a short period of insertion to carry out His work of restoration in the remaining nations through His eternal gospel, that He may gain a group of righteous ones. His work of the new creation through the different dispensations in the old creation and His work of restoration in the short inserted period will have the following results: (1) all the redeemed people of the Old Testament and New Testament will be produced; (2) among the redeemed, a group of overcomers who are perfected and have arrived at the maturity in God’s life will be obtained; (3) the overcomers will be constituted the New Jerusalem in the millennial kingdom and become the kings in the heavenly part of the millennium; (4) all Israel will be saved and serve as priests in the earthly part of the millennium; (5) at the end of the dispensation of grace, the remainder of the nations will be restored as the citizens in the earthly part of the millennium; (6) the redeemed but immature believers, who are unable to participate in the New Jerusalem of the millennium, will be perfected and become mature in God’s life; (7) the nations, having been restored as the people in the millennium, will be purged and be brought into the new earth of the new heaven and new earth as God’s people for eternity; (8) as a secondary result, all the creatures who rebel against God will be terminated and cast into the lake of fire; and (9) all the Old Testament and New Testament saints who have been redeemed and perfected and have reached the maturity in God’s life will be constituted the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. After God completes all His work, the new heaven and new earth will be brought in, with the ultimately consummated New Jerusalem as the center. The New Jerusalem is the crystallized product and masterpiece of God’s work in the old creation throughout the generations. It is not a physical city. Rather, it is a composition of all God’s redeemed believers throughout the ages to be the bride of Christ and the mutual dwelling place of God and His redeemed for eternity. It is also a divine and glorious organism, a mingling of the processed Triune God in the elements of His divine Trinity — the Father’s nature, the Son’s life which has passed through death and resurrection, and the Spirit’s regenerating and transforming element — with His redeemed and transformed tripartite man. The all-inclusive and unlimited Triune God, who is a constituent of such a mingling, is its temple, light, lamp, and the life saturation and supply, that it may be His full and consummated expression in eternity to express His unlimited Self from the center to the circumference fully, completely, and eternally!]
