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There are more than forty major points as aspects of the church life which we can learn from the vision of the New Jerusalem recorded at the end of Revelation. In this chapter we will cover the first thirteen points.
The first point is that this city is the ultimate consummation of God’s building work from the beginning of creation throughout all generations. The first thing that the apostle John saw in his vision was a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1). Following that, he saw the New Jerusalem descend out of heaven. Heaven and earth represent God’s work of creation, but the New Jerusalem represents God’s work of building. This means that following His initial work of creation, God has continued to work through many generations to achieve His ultimate building. Genesis 1 and 2 record God’s creation work, but from Genesis 3 to the end of the Scriptures God is continually working for His building. Let us recall the vital meaning of God’s building; it is that God is building Himself into man and building man into Himself. It is the very mingling of God and man. Throughout all generations God has been working along this line for this purpose. The Scriptures mainly reveal that God’s whole work since creation has been to mingle Himself and man together as one.
When the Word of God, God Himself, became incarnated as a man, this was an expression of the living tabernacle, a real mingling of God with man. Before this time, as we have seen, God was God and man was man. But at the time of incarnation and since that time, something has happened on this earth—God has mingled Himself with man. Most Christians are familiar with Isaiah 9:6, yet few have been impressed that a child was born on this earth whose name was called Mighty God. If this were not recorded in the Scriptures, no one would believe that a child could be called Mighty God. This child was both the tabernacle and the temple, the very building of God (John 1:14; 2:19). Divinity had been mingled with humanity—this is the real definition of God’s building.
From the time of God’s incarnation as man, especially during a period of thirty-three and a half years, there was a man on this earth with God in Him. Jesus was a real man, a typical man, yet the Mighty God was wrought into Him. God had come to be a man, and God was brought into man. However, that is not all. The Lord Jesus also brought man into God. He accomplished this by His death and resurrection. Today in the heavens there is a man in God. By Christ’s incarnation God was brought into man, and by His death, resurrection, and ascension man has been brought into God.
While Jesus was on this earth, He was a man with God in Him; today, while Jesus is in heaven, He is the very God with man in Him. This is the mingling of God with man and man with God, and this is the meaning of God’s building. This mingling has already been accomplished. Now all we need is a mass reproduction of this mingling. We all need, experientially, to have Christ incarnated into us. Then He must bring us through death and resurrection into God. The more we pass through the cross and into the resurrection, the more we will be in God. God is in us today, but we are not very much in God. This is why God is doing His work of building on this earth today.
Today when we preach the gospel, we do the work of incarnation; we bring God into man. Then we immediately begin the work of building—that is, we bring people into God by the cross and the resurrection of Christ. In this way we all become the mass production of Christ. When this reproduction work is fully completed and composed together, the result is the enlarged tabernacle, the New Jerusalem.
The Bible is a composition of sixty-six books that tell us how God has been working for over six thousand years to bring His ultimate building into existence. Bible students speak of many dispensations, telling how God works in one age in a certain way and in another age in another way. Yet the ultimate result, the issue of all God’s work throughout all generations, will be the New Jerusalem. However we may interpret the dispensations, we must realize that all of God’s various ways of working will issue in a certain kind of result—the New Jerusalem. It is indeed logical that a picture of such a building is at the end of the sixty-six books of Scripture.
We have seen from the Scriptures how in the early stages of history there was a little tent with a little altar. Through many generations that tent has increased until ultimately there is a large tabernacle. How significant it is that the New Jerusalem is still called the tabernacle of God (Rev. 21:3). This tabernacle is the total mingling of God with man.
The second point is that this ultimate consummation of God’s work is not only a tent, a tabernacle, but also a city. A tent is not very strong or permanent, but this tent is also a city. According to the scriptural meaning, a city is a center for the exercise of authority. Therefore, the city symbolizes the kingdom. The New Jerusalem is not only a tent as a dwelling place; it is also a city as the center of a kingdom. In the early stages of history there was a small tent. Then came the tabernacle and eventually the temple. Finally there will be a city, the strongest and most established structure of all.
It is difficult to visualize authority as symbolized by a tent, a tabernacle, or even a temple. But a city aptly symbolizes a center where authority is exercised. It is the symbol of the kingdom. The throne of God will be displayed in the New Jerusalem, for this city is the center of God’s authority. The early chapters of the book of Revelation reveal God sitting on the throne apart from the city (4:2-3). But in the concluding chapters God is on the throne in the city (21:5; 22:3). This signifies that it is not until the New Jerusalem descends out of heaven at the end time that God will be enthroned in a city. He is on the throne now, but at that time He will exercise His authority over a full kingdom.
The church today must be the realm of God’s kingdom. The apostle Paul speaks of this vital principle in his writings. Romans 12 reveals the Body of Christ, but Romans 14 speaks of the kingdom. The proper church life is a realm, a sphere, where God may exercise His authority. Strictly speaking, the proper church life is the kingdom of God. The church life must be like the holy city, the New Jerusalem, a center where God may exercise His authority.
The third point is that the New Jerusalem is a city built up in perfect order. It is not simply a heap of precious stones but a city built up with precious stones (Rev. 21:10-11). We may possess many good materials that are ideal for building; however, if these materials are merely gathered in a pile, they certainly do not compose a building. Even so, in the church life there must be the real building, not only a group of wonderful believers gathered together. Our first need is to be transformed into precious material; then we must be built up with others as a building. When we have the real building, the city will be manifested in order. In the church life we must all be in a good order, not merely heaped together as a pile of materials. If I were to invite someone to my house, I would not take him to a lumberyard. I must bring him to a house that has been built up in good and proper order. To be a proper church, we first need to be a building, and then we will be a city.
The fourth point is that the New Jerusalem is the very tabernacle of God (v. 3). The tabernacle conveys three basic thoughts: that of dwelling, of rest, and of expression. The church must be such a tabernacle. It must be a place where God dwells, where God rests, and where God expresses Himself.
The fifth point is that this city is also called the bride (vv. 9-10). A bride portrays several main things. The first bride, Eve, was a part of her husband. She came out of Adam (Gen. 2:21-24); therefore, she was his counterpart. Even so, the church must be a part of Christ (Eph. 5:30-32). A bride also speaks of love and oneness. The husband loves the bride, and the bride loves her husband. She is united in oneness with her husband. Such oneness is not only a matter of love but also a matter of life. Adam did not find his counterpart in any of the other living creatures, for none possessed a life which matched his own. Only Eve had the same life that Adam had. The church must first be something which is taken out of Christ. Then it must be in a union of love with Christ. Finally, it must possess the same life and nature as Christ.
To be a bride is easy. But the bride must also be a wife. Everything is wonderful on the wedding day, but afterward the bride must become the wife, and that is more serious. The New Jerusalem is not only the bride but also the wife of Christ for all eternity.
The sixth point is that in this city there is a center, the throne of God. It is the throne of God in Christ (Rev. 22:3). God is in Christ, for Christ is portrayed as the lamp containing God as the light (21:23). The city of the New Jerusalem is like a lampstand, holding Christ as the lamp with God as the light. Thus, since God is in Christ on the throne, there is only one throne. God in Christ and with Christ sits on the throne in the city, and this throne is the center of the city.
In the church life today there must also be a center. That center is the throne of God, from which God in Christ exercises His authority in the church. The entire church must be under the authority of God in Christ. Here we see the matter of headship. Christ with God is the Head. In the church we must always be careful never to exercise our authority. We must all learn to give place to God, the real authority in the church. We must learn to subject ourselves to the headship of God in Christ.
The seventh point is that the headship of God in Christ is the very light. Wherever God is in authority, there is also light. On the other hand, wherever there is confusion, there is darkness. When God’s authority is exercised in a local church, that church will be full of the divine light. If God is not on the throne, if He is not in authority, He cannot shine, and there will be no light. If we all give place to God in Christ so that He may exercise His authority, if we all are willing to subject ourselves to Him, everything in our midst will be full of light. Even in our personal lives, when we admit the headship of Christ and subject ourselves to Him, He brings us into light. Rebellion puts us into darkness, but subjection brings us into the light.
The eighth point is that this city is one large, universal lampstand. In the opening chapters of Revelation there are seven lampstands in seven localities. But at the end of this book, there is one immense lampstand in the entire universe. The New Jerusalem is a city of gold, as a mountain rising up (v. 18). On the top of this mountain city is the throne of God. God on His throne is the light in the Lamb, who is the lamp (v. 23). Hence, the entire city is a golden lampstand.
The local church must be such a lampstand. When God in Christ is on the throne in a local church, when He is exercising His authority and shining, that church becomes a lampstand. In eternity there will be only one universal church, but today there are many local churches. Therefore, we see seven lampstands in Revelation, depicting the church in history, in time. In eternity we will see only one large lampstand, the New Jerusalem.
The ninth point is that from the throne there issues the flow of the water of life (22:1). If anything flows out of God, it must be something of God Himself; hence, this flow is God Himself, flowing out as life. In the church when God is allowed to exercise His headship in Christ and thus shine as the light, He spontaneously flows out to us as life. Whenever anyone enters into such a church life, he immediately senses this flow of life. There is a sense of being watered rather than any sense of dryness. Such a flow of life depends upon the throne being set up in the church. God’s authority must be exercised so that the light of God may shine and so that the life may flow.
The tenth point is that in this flow there is the tree of life bearing rich fruits (v. 2). This tree is the life supply, the food for life. In the church whenever there is the flow of life, the complete supply of God as our spiritual food will come to us in that flow. Whenever we attend a meeting, whether it is a prayer meeting, a meeting for the Lord’s table, or a fellowship meeting, we will partake of some fruit of the tree of life. In every meeting there will be something upon which we may feed.
The eleventh point is that with this flow and supply of life there is a street. There is only one street, only one way. In the street of the New Jerusalem there is a river flowing, and in that river there grows a tree whose branches reach to both sides of the river. The spiritual way is always with the flow and the supply of life. Let us check our own experience. If we do not have the flow of life and the supply of life, there is no way; we do not know how to go on. When a meeting of the church is full of the life supply in the flow of life with the light and authority of God, we will be so clear concerning the way. After such a meeting and even during that meeting, we will say, “Now I am clear. I know what I must do with this or with that. I know how to go on.” It is clear because there is the way, the street. If, however, the meeting of the church is full of confusion and darkness, poverty and dryness, it is a meeting which has no throne, no light, and no flow of life. In such a meeting we will be in darkness, and afterward we will not know how to go on. There is no way.
The above picture reveals three things in one: the street or the way, the flow of life, and the tree of life. When we have the flow of life, we also have the tree of life and the way of life. The way of life is with the tree of life, and the tree of life grows in the flow of life. In the flow there is the life supply and the way to go on.
The twelfth point is that there is only one flow of life, one tree of life, and one street of life. If your way is different from my way, something is wrong. Either you are wrong, or I am wrong, or possibly both of us are wrong. If nothing is wrong, then we must be in the same way, for there is only one way. Cities today have so many streets and so many ways; thus, it is easy to be lost. But there is no such problem in the New Jerusalem. That city has only one street and one way. The picture of the New Jerusalem also reveals that the street must be laid out in a spiral pattern. The city itself is shaped like a mountain with the throne of God at the peak. From the foundation of the city, the street passes all twelve gates through which the people enter. Then it winds spirally upward around the city until it reaches the throne. From the throne, the river of life flows downward in the midst of the street until it reaches all twelve gates of the city. Regardless of which gate you enter, if you go on in the one street, you will eventually reach the throne. The street ascends upward, but the flow of life is downward. The life of God flows to us to bring us upward. Whenever we have the flow within us, it will always bring us the way, and when we follow the way, the street will bring us to the throne of God. The enjoyment of the flow of life imparts the way of life, and the way of life brings us to God. If we follow only the way of life, we will be brought into the presence of God. In the church life today there is only one flow of life, one tree of life, and one way of life. The way of life is always upward. The more we follow this way, the more we will go onward and upward to the throne.
The thirteenth point is that this one street is all of gold (21:21). This signifies that the way of life is in the nature of God. The spiritual way must always be the way of life with God’s nature. Whenever you feel that you must do something in a certain way, that way must contain the nature of God. If you would do anything in a way that is contrary to God’s nature, then that is not the right way. The right way is the way of the golden street, the way of the nature of God. When you are in the flow of life, you have the way, and this way always has the nature of God.
These vital points as seen in the New Jerusalem have helped me greatly to realize all the aspects of the church life, for this city is the ultimate consummation of God’s building.
