Search
Many of the divine revelations in the Bible are fulfilled in the book of Revelation, for the record in the book of Revelation is the conclusion of the entire Scriptures. The center of the entire Bible is that God wants to work Himself into man to the extent that He is fully mingled with man. In other words, He desires that His divinity would be mingled with humanity and that humanity would be mingled with His divinity so that God and man, man and God, would be fully mingled as one.
Even though divinity and humanity are two entirely different natures, the work of God throughout all the generations is to work these two natures into one so that divinity may be in humanity and humanity in divinity, to the extent that you would not be able to see God without seeing man or see man without seeing God. In the end, at the consummation of God’s work, you will be able to smell humanity when you touch divinity and taste divinity when you touch humanity, because at that time God and man, man and God will be fully mingled as one. God will then be able to say that we are the same as He, and we also will be able to say that God is the same as we. At that time God and man will be in complete harmony. God and we, we and God will become fully one and will be inseparable. Apart from the Godhead, we will be one hundred percent exactly the same as God (cf. 1 John 3:2).
The first mention of man in the Bible is God’s creation of man in His image (Gen. 1:26). Although man is man, he has the image of God. It is obvious from the Scriptures that in God’s heart, He wants to work in man to the point that man is exactly the same as He. God’s work in man to make man exactly the same as He is began in Genesis. From Genesis 2 on, God has been continually working. Even after His birth the Lord Jesus still said, “My Father is working until now, and I also am working” (John 5:17). This shows that this work has not yet ceased and has not yet been accomplished.
This work was not accomplished when the Lord Jesus was on the earth, and though the Holy Spirit descended almost two thousand years ago, this work is still not yet accomplished. God’s work throughout the generations will not be accomplished until the day that the holy city, New Jerusalem, is manifested. This holy city, New Jerusalem, is the issue of God’s work throughout the generations. The entire Bible reveals to us that the ultimate issue and product of God’s work will be the New Jerusalem. What is the New Jerusalem? The New Jerusalem is the totality of God’s work, the issue of God’s work throughout the ages and generations. The glory, radiance, color, and appearance of the New Jerusalem are exactly the same as God in His glory, radiance, color, and appearance.
Revelation 4 shows us a picture of the image of God. This chapter says that there is a throne set in heaven and upon the throne there is One sitting. We all know that the One on the throne is God, because the seven Spirits who come forth out of the throne are the seven Spirits of God (v. 5). Moreover, in the midst of the One sitting on the throne and the seven Spirits who come forth out of the throne, is a Lamb standing as having just been slain (5:6). Who is the Lamb standing as having just been slain? He is Christ, the Son of God. The Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—is expressed on and around the throne, comes forth out of the throne, and is sent forth into all the earth.
The One who is sitting on the throne is God, and God is both a consuming fire and Spirit (Heb. 12:29; John 4:24). In Leviticus 10 Nadab and Abihu came before God, but because they violated the statute of God, fire came out and consumed them (vv. 1-2). The Bible tells us that God dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16). This light, no doubt, comes out of the consuming fire. On the one hand, God comes out as Spirit, and on the other hand, He comes out as consuming fire. Hence, the seven lamps of fire that come forth out of the throne are the seven Spirits of God. Why are the seven Spirits of God seven lamps of fire before the throne? The seven Spirits are seven lamps of fire because God is a consuming fire, and what is diffused from Him must also be fire. The fire that is diffused from God is contained in lamps so that God can approach man. If God were only the fire but not the lamps of fire, no one would dare approach Him. Thank the Lord that when He is diffused from His throne, He is lamps of fire so that man may approach Him. The lamps of fire are God Himself. In addition, because God is Spirit, what is diffused from Him is also Spirit.
In Revelation 4 we see that the One who is on the throne is God, and the One who comes out of the throne is the Spirit. God the Father is on the throne, and God the Spirit is diffused from the throne. Inserted in chapter 5 is the Lamb standing as having just been slain. The seven eyes of this Lamb are the seven lamps of fire. Thus, we can say that the seven lamps of fire before the throne are the seven eyes of the Lamb, and the seven eyes of the Lamb are the seven Spirits. In other words, God the Father who is on the throne passes through God the Son—Christ who has been slain and resurrected—and is diffused. What goes out in this diffusion is not only the lamps of fire, which enlighten man, but also the seven Spirits who take care of man and are sent forth into all the earth. The seven Spirits can reach everywhere in all the earth.
The center of the universe is the throne. On this throne there is one God, and before this throne there are seven lamps, which are the seven eyes of God, the seven Spirits of God. These seven Spirits come out of God by shining and observing through Christ who was slain and resurrected. The shining and observing seven Spirits are sent forth into all the earth to observe everyone in every corner of the earth. Wherever the seven Spirits look, there is blessing and the shining of God’s lamps of fire, and wherever God’s lamps of fire shine, there is the burning of the fire of God. The fire of God is the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God is God Himself. Wherever there are God’s lamps of fire, there is the presence of God, and wherever there are God’s lamps of fire, there is God Himself. Eventually, the result of the burning of the fire of God will be a group of people who are one hundred percent exactly the same as God.
Revelation 4:3a says, “He who was sitting was like a jasper stone.” This means that the One who is sitting on the throne is like jasper in appearance. In the entire Bible, God’s image is seldom mentioned, but here it says that the One who is sitting on the throne has an image like a jasper stone. When the apostle John saw this vision, he seemed to declare that the One on the throne has the appearance, splendor, color, and radiance like that of a jasper stone. When God shines forth through Christ—the One who was slain and resurrected—He is the Spirit. He is also like eyes looking at man’s inner being, and these eyes are God’s lamps of fire. Wherever there is the shining of God’s lamps of fire, there is the burning of fire, and wherever there is the burning of fire, there is the filling of the Spirit. In Acts, when the Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost, He was like tongues of fire (2:3). The Lord Jesus also said that He came to cast fire on the earth (Luke 12:49). That fire is the Spirit of God, God Himself. When the Lord Jesus came, He brought God to the earth so that man may receive God. God in the Lamb is the lamps of fire and the flames, and both the lamps and the flames are the eyes.
Our God is a consuming fire, but when He passed through Christ, He became lamps of fire and the eyes of the Lamb. After passing through Christ—the One who was slain—the consuming fire, which can burn man up, became the seven Spirits, the lamps of fire, and the seven eyes that enlighten and take care of us. The Holy Spirit’s working in us is first to take care of us by observing us. When He observes us, we sense that He is like light that shines upon us. This shining gives us the feeling that we are being burned—everything that should not be in us is burned away and burned up. On the other hand, this fire within us also acts as a motivating power that drives us from within. This experience fills us with the presence of the Spirit. The Spirit is Christ, and Christ is God. Thus, when we are filled with the Spirit, we are filled with the element of God, and this element, which is God Himself, is a consuming fire. The result of such burning is that we have the splendor of God, the appearance of God, and the radiance of God so that we become exactly the same as God.
In Revelation we see that when God’s work is completed, the New Jerusalem is produced. Moreover, we see also that the splendor, color, and radiance of the New Jerusalem are the same as that of God. Chapter 4 says that the God who is sitting on the throne is like a jasper stone (v. 3); chapter 21 goes on to say that the radiance and color of the New Jerusalem are also like a jasper stone (vv. 11, 18-19). Verse 11 reads, “Having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.” This clearly indicates that the glory of the city is the glory of God, the light of the city is the light of God, the color of the city is the color of God, and the appearance of the city is the same as the appearance of God. The One who is sitting on the throne is like a jasper stone, and the expression of the holy city is also like a jasper stone. In the end the city and the One who is sitting on the throne are exactly the same, having no difference.
Revelation also reveals that the city itself is pure gold (v. 18). This refers to the content and inner life of the redeemed ones. The content and inner life of the redeemed ones is the nature of God, God Himself. We can say this because in the Bible gold denotes the nature of God. All those who have been redeemed have the life of God, the nature of God, and God Himself within them, but do they all have the jasper wall, the splendor of God, without? This is an exceedingly great matter. The city itself is pure gold because it has the nature of God, but the wall of the city is jasper as a result of transformation. God operates in this city to build its wall. Thus, the city being jasper is the issue of God’s operation and transformation.
The pearl gates of the city signify regeneration. Once we are saved, we enter through the pearl gates by regeneration. A pearl is produced when an oyster is wounded by a grain of sand. The oyster being wounded to produce a pearl signifies Christ being wounded by us and dying for us in order to make us pearls. Hence, the pearl gates signify our regeneration. As a result of being saved and regenerated, we have God’s life, the pearl gates, and the street of pure gold in us, but the question is, do we have the jasper wall? A wall is a separating boundary, a powerful protection. Everything that belongs to the city is inside the wall, and all that does not belong to the city is outside the wall. The wall is the separating boundary.
Many saved ones, even though they have entered through the pearl gates and have the nature of pure gold within them, do not have the wall—the protection and separating boundary. They cannot tell what is of God and what is not of God, what pleases God and what displeases Him, or what God wants and what He does not want. They do not have the power of separation in their friendships, their work, or their career, because they lack a wall, a separating boundary. This separating boundary is the jasper wall, and jasper is the image of God. The separating boundary in us is our likeness to God. How much of the appearance of God we have determines how much separation we have. If our appearance of God is “two feet high,” then the jasper wall in us will also be “two feet high.” If the element of God increases in us by “three feet,” then the separating boundary in us will also increase by “three feet.”
The issue of God’s work is to produce such a separating boundary that acts as a wall within us. This wall is nothing other than the appearance of God. The wall and God are exactly the same in appearance. God on the throne is jasper, and the wall is also jasper. At the end of Revelation the result of the completion of God’s work is that all those who have passed through His work have the radiance of God and are the same as God. The result of God’s work is a city with jasper as its wall. The radiance and color of the city are exactly the same as the One who is sitting on the throne.
The work of the Holy Spirit is to produce spiritual reality. The Holy Spirit is working in us continuously in order to work the image of God into us, and the result of this work is that we become exactly the same as God. God is jasper, and we also have jasper in us. This jasper becomes a wall, a separating boundary within us, and whenever anyone sees this separating boundary, they see the image of God. Whoever passes through the work of the Holy Spirit will be made to be exactly the same as God.
First Corinthians 3 tells us that a worker who is useful to the Lord must do the work of gold, silver, and precious stones instead of wood, grass, and stubble (vv. 12-13). This is the kind of work that the Triune God does within us, a work of gold, silver, and precious stones. God the Father is the golden nature. When His life and nature enter into us, this is the gold. The redemption of God the Son is the silver. The issue of the work of God the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is the precious stones. Both gold and silver are created, but precious stones are produced through a process of burning, high heat, high pressure, and reconstitution. Hence, the precious stones signify the burning work of the Holy Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit who is within us puts us—those who were originally made of clay—into the fire of the Holy Spirit. After we have passed through the burning of the Holy Spirit, the result is precious stones.
The One who is making us jasper is the jasper One on the throne. God’s throne is His reigning, and out of His sovereign reigning comes forth fire (Rev. 4:5). The fire that comes out of His reigning, however, is not a consuming fire but lamps of fire to enlighten us. If God were merely a consuming fire, He would be fearful. However, since He is the lamps of fire, He is not fearful to us. We are always safe before a lamp. Moreover, the Lamb, Christ, who passed through death and resurrection has eyes that transfuse God and convey His feelings. One glance, or even one rebuke, from His eyes is full of feelings. The organs that most express a person’s feelings are his eyes.
Christ came forth from the throne of God, which represents His sovereignty and reigning, as a consuming fire. But after passing through death and resurrection, He became lamps and eyes. Because of this, when we taste the visitation and grace of God, our first inner feeling is that God’s eyes are looking at our inner being. Every time we come near to God in order to meet God, taking the precious blood of the Lamb who was slain, the God in heaven is not like thunder and lightning or a burning fire to us; instead, He is like eyes that look into our inner being. Every day when we come near to God in the Lamb who was slain, we have fellowship with God, and inwardly our first feeling is that God’s eyes are looking into our inner being.
These eyes are also the Spirit of God. Every time we have fellowship with God, His eyes look at our inner being, for these eyes are sent forth into all the earth. Whenever we come near to God, this is our first experience. Our second experience is that we sense that God is enlightening us inwardly. The eyes are lamps of fire to enlighten us, causing us to know immediately that we are wrong in certain matters and to feel that we should deal with and resolve certain matters. First, the eyes look at us, and the result of this looking is the shining. Then the result of this shining is the burning of fire. The burning of fire, on the one hand, deals with everything that should not exist and, on the other hand, motivates us inwardly.
Through this kind of burning, we who were made of clay will become jasper. After one experience of the burning, we have more of the appearance of jasper; after another experience of the burning, we have the addition of the element of God; after another experience of the burning, we have more of the color of God; and after yet another experience of the burning, the appearance of God emerges. In one burning after another, the eyes look at us, the lamps shine into us, and the burning comes to us. Through these experiences we will have more of the appearance of God, and in our living we will have more of the expression of God in appearance and image.
God who is sitting on the throne is a consuming fire and Spirit, and what comes out of Him is consuming fire, lamps of fire, the seven Spirits, and the eyes. When He looks at a person and shines into him, He burns in him, and the result is precious stone. How much appearance, radiance, and color of God can a man of clay have? Through the work of the Holy Spirit, a man of clay can be burned to the extent that he becomes part of the New Jerusalem. When this happens, this redeemed one will not only have entered the pearl gate and have the element of pure gold but will also have the issue of the burning of the Holy Spirit—the wall constituted with the Holy Spirit. This wall bears the appearance of God and is a separating boundary. Whenever we see this wall in a person, we see God’s radiance, God’s image, and a clear separating boundary.
This separating line discerns between what is heavenly and what is earthly, what is spiritual and what is fleshly, what is of God and what is of man, and what is holy and what is common. This discernment comes from the constitution of the Holy Spirit and is produced by the burning of the Holy Spirit. It is by this discernment that the image of separation and the radiance of the Holy Spirit are expressed. The result is the reality of the Holy Spirit, which is spiritual reality.
