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Hebrews 11:10 says, “He eagerly waited for the city which has the foundations, whose Architect and Builder is God.” This verse mentions the words Architect and Builder. Verse 16 says, “They long after a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God.” The phrase to be called their God means that God belongs to those who are spoken of in this verse. The meaning of this phrase in Greek is very weighty. It means that God is their sole possession. It is not just a title by which God is addressed. Rather, it is a fact indicating that God has become their possession. In other words, God has become the God of those who long after a heavenly country. The end of verse 16 says, “For He has prepared a city for them.” This preparation can be done only when there is building. Hebrews 11 says that He has prepared a city, but Revelation 21 says that the city is “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (v. 2). The New Jerusalem is a city, yet it is also a bride. Verse 3 continues, “And I heard a loud voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.” The New Jerusalem is a city and a bride, but ultimately, it is the tabernacle of God. The tabernacle of God, according to the Old Testament type, is God’s habitation.
Then verse 3 continues, saying that God “will tabernacle with them, and they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.” They possess God and own God; thus, God is their God. This very God, whom they possess and own, tabernacles among them. Verse 9 says, “I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb,” indicating that the bride is the wife of the Lamb, but verse 10 says that this bride is a city, the holy city Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from God. Then verse 11 says, “Having the glory of God.” This indicates that God tabernacles within His people. Verse 11 also says, “Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.”
The Bible has a continuous line of thought. Revelation 21 repeatedly mentions the matter of stones in describing the New Jerusalem. It says that the light that the city expresses is like a most precious stone (v. 11). It also says that the twelve foundations of the wall of the city are twelve precious stones and that the building work of its wall is jasper, which is also a precious stone (vv. 18-20). First Peter matches this thought. Verse 4 of chapter 2 says, “Coming to Him, a living stone.” The Lord as a living stone is precious to God. Verse 5 says, “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house.” When we come to Him, we ourselves also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house. The word built in this verse is related to the word Builder in Hebrews 11:10.
Ephesians 2:20-22 says that we are “being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone; in whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” These verses also contain the words stone and built. These verses indicate that the “dwelling place of God in spirit,” which is God’s habitation, is being produced.
First Corinthians 3:9 says, “You are God’s cultivated land, God’s building.” The cultivated land and the building are connected in this verse. On one hand, the Bible says that we are God’s temple, God’s building. On the other hand, it says that we are God’s harvest, God’s land. While the building is something that is built up, the harvest on the land is something that grows up. In this verse the work of God is connected with these two matters of the building and the harvest. In other words, God comes to build the building so that the harvest may grow.
In Matthew 16:18 the Lord said to Peter, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church.” Those who understand Greek know that the name Peter means “a little stone.” In revealing the church, this verse also mentions the matters of building and stones. Christ is a big stone, the rock upon which the church is built, whereas Peter is a little stone. Peter, the little stone, had to be built on Christ, the big stone, so that they could become the church, God’s habitation. John 14:1-12 is the word that the Lord Jesus spoke to the disciples before He was crucified. The Lord told the disciples that He was going to leave them. The disciples were troubled upon hearing this, but the Lord comforted them by saying, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe into God, believe also into Me” (v. 1). The Greek phrase translated “believe into God, believe also into Me” also has the meaning “believe into the inside of God, believe into the inside of Me.”
The Lord continued, saying, “In My Father’s house are many abodes; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, so that where I am you also may be” (vv. 2-3). Here the Lord mentions that He is preparing a place, that He is coming again, and that He will bring us to the same place where He is. This is the work that God is doing throughout the generations.
The work of God throughout the generations is to gain something that is very mystical. It may be described as a group of people, and it may also be described as an abode, a habitation. It is what Revelation 21 calls the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. According to what the Bible shows, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate issue of the work of God in all generations. God began to work in Genesis 1, and by the end of Revelation He has built a holy city, the New Jerusalem. In the beginning of the Bible, God shows the garden of Eden. The garden of Eden is a picture, revealing that God’s heart’s desire is to produce the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate issue of the work of God. This issue is a group of people and also an abode. Revelation clearly says that the New Jerusalem is the bride, the wife of the Lamb (21:9). It also says that the New Jerusalem is the holy city, God’s habitation (v. 10).
How can the New Jerusalem be a group of people and a habitation at the same time? How can it simultaneously be a holy city and a bride? Many people cannot understand this. They may ask, “If we are going to be that city in the future, that is, the stones of that city, will we still be able to praise as stones? Will we as stones still have mouths?” These questions prove that our natural mind cannot understand this matter. How can the New Jerusalem be both a city and a woman? It is clearly a group of people, but how can it simultaneously be a place? No matter how long we think about this, we still will not be able to understand. However, although we may not understand or comprehend the revelations of the Bible, we need to believe them.
Revelation 21 shows that the New Jerusalem is both a city and a bride. This is the clear word in the Bible, and we must believe it no matter what. Actually, the church today is also a mystery. The New Testament clearly states that the church today is constituted with saved people. However, the Bible also says that we are God’s temple, God’s habitation. We do not need to wait until the time of the new heaven and new earth to be God’s habitation, because we are God’s habitation today. First Peter 2 says that we are living stones, being built up as a spiritual house by the Lord. A spiritual house is a habitation. Ephesians 2 also says that the apostles and we are being built together on Christ the cornerstone to become God’s habitation. Therefore, it is not necessary to wait until the new heaven and new earth for the mystery to be revealed, because it is here today. We who are saved are saints, but we are also a habitation. We are clearly people, but God sees us as living stones. Thus, the New Jerusalem truly has a twofold significance. The work of God in all the ages is to gain the New Jerusalem.
What is the New Jerusalem? The New Jerusalem is a mingling of God and man, something of God mingled with man. Revelation shows that the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven from God. This implies that the New Jerusalem is filled with the element of heaven and is absolutely heavenly. On the other hand, the New Jerusalem is God abiding among man. It is a corporate man. Therefore, the New Jerusalem is something of heaven, God, and also man. This is the revelation in the Bible. According to the verses we have examined, we cannot deny the fact that the ultimate issue of the work of God in every age is to gain something mystical, that is, something of God, man, and heaven mingled together.
There is no question that this holy city, New Jerusalem, comes down out of heaven. When the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven to the earth, this union of God, heaven, and man will be on the earth. The ultimate issue of the work of God will be something of God mingled within man and also heaven mingled within man. Heaven, God, and man will be mingled into one as the New Jerusalem. This is the revelation in the Bible. Every saved person will ultimately end up in the heavenly New Jerusalem. This New Jerusalem, according to what Revelation shows, is God abiding among man and God mingled with man, and it is produced through the transformation of man. When the union of these three is completely manifested, we will be on the new earth. At that time all of us who are saved will live there with God eternally.
Many Christians are wrongly influenced by Christianity. They think that after a person is saved, he does not need to pay attention to life or to be built up by God but only needs to wait until the day when God will put him into a place called “heaven.” However, the Bible shows that throughout the ages and generations, God has been managing, building, and working on the place into which the believers will ultimately enter. What God has been managing, building, and working on throughout the ages are the saved ones. The principle of God’s work on those who have been saved is that He works Himself into them and also works heaven into them. Today we who are saved are not only of God but also of heaven. Not only is God in us, but heaven is also in us.
Ephesians 1 says that we are in Christ (v. 12). Then chapter 2 says that we are in the heavenlies (v. 6). We not only have God and Christ in us, but we also have heaven in us. This is not a doctrine but a spiritual fact that can be experienced. Consider your own experience. After you were saved, you may have felt that you had the presence of God and the taste of God within you. At the same time, you also may have felt that heaven was within you. In that experience you may have had a special taste. We not only have the taste of God inside of us but also the taste of heaven. The more we love God and the more we live in God, the more we feel that we are in the heavenlies and inwardly have the taste of heaven, as if heaven has entered into us. This is the experience of every saved one.
Thirty years ago when I was still a young man, no one had ever told me about this; however, whenever I prayed and contacted the Lord, I truly felt as if I were in the heavens, and I was inwardly filled with the taste of heaven. I believe many saints have had this experience. Sometimes when we are about to do something, a sense within will cause us to stop, because we have the feeling inside that we are people in the heavenlies and thus cannot do the earthly things. For example, we may want to buy a piece of fabric, but when we see the color and pattern of the fabric, we may immediately have a feeling inside that as people in the heavenlies, we should not wear the colors and patterns that the earthly people wear. Therefore, we may turn around and walk away. Then, while we are walking on the street, we may feel not only the presence of God but also the presence of heaven.
I hope that we can see from our experience and the light in the Bible that the work of God’s salvation is not only to work God into us but also to work heaven into us. We who are saved are not only a mingling of man with God but also a mingling of man and God with heaven. When we are fellowshipping with the Lord, contacting the Lord, living before the Lord, and walking according to the spirit, do we feel that we are people on the earth or people in heaven? Do we feel that we are inwardly full of heaven or full of the earth? I believe we all have to say that when we are loving the Lord and contacting the Lord, heaven is truly within us, and inwardly we have the taste of heaven and the feeling of heaven.
However, one day we may be tempted, we may fall into the stratagems of Satan, and we may be brought to the slaughter as a lamb. Perhaps one day we go to the movies. At that time we may feel that we, who were in the heavenlies, have fallen into a pit. We may be very uncomfortable inside, the taste of heaven may be gone, and we may have only the taste of earth. Not only going to the movies can make us feel this way, but even the way we adorn and dress ourselves in our daily lives can make us feel this way. When we wear worldly clothes, we often feel like we are dragging a pile of earth onto ourselves and are full of the taste of the earth. This kind of condition is altogether different from the condition we are in when we are contacting the Lord and praying to the Lord. What does this prove? This proves that the work of God in every generation is to work Himself and also heaven into those who have believed into Him. The issue of this work will be the New Jerusalem, which is a union of three entities—God, man, and heaven. This is the place into which we who are saved will ultimately enter.
Again, do not be wrongly influenced by traditional Christianity, thinking that all saved people will “go to heaven.” God desires to have the New Jerusalem worked and built into us. We all are parts of the New Jerusalem. You are a part, and I also am a part. All the saved ones throughout the generations are stones in the New Jerusalem.
We who are saved were not originally stones. We were not “Peters” but “Simons.” We were originally clay. We were made of clay in order to be burned into bricks. We used to be clay, but because the life of God has entered into us and is changing us inwardly, we are being transformed from clay into stones. What are these stones for? Consider what David did in the Old Testament. After he realized what God’s desire was, he wanted to build a holy temple for God. He first sent people to hew stones out of the mountains. Then they shaped each stone into a certain size and polished the stones until they were shiny. One day King Solomon came and transported these stones to Jerusalem, and by arranging them and laying them one by one, he built the holy temple. The Bible says that while Solomon was building the temple, neither the sound of a hammer nor of an ax nor of any iron tool was heard (1 Kings 6:7). Those sounds had been heard in the mountains when the people had been hewing out the stones during the time of King David. King Solomon then took the stones that David had prepared and arranged and laid them to build up the holy temple.
Our Lord is today’s David. He is preparing us, stones who have been taken from the mountains of this world. Today the sounds of hammers, axes, and other iron tools striking stone can be heard among us. Perhaps our husbands or wives are our hammers, those coordinating with us in the church are our axes, and our children are the other iron tools. The difficulties in all our environments strike us to deal with us and to prepare us as stones. Never treat the matter of building in the Bible as something simple. We all know that stones cannot be piled up randomly to construct a building. To be built, stones first need to be dealt with—all the protruding corners and sharp edges must be removed, and the places that are not smooth enough must be ground smooth. This is the building work that God is doing on us. Do not view the matter of building only as something that is very sweet and simple. When God comes to work on us, I fear that very few among us are able to bear it.
Today it seems as if everyone among us is on the same plane. When we do things, we are very polite, nobody touches anyone in the wrong way, and we get along with one another peacefully. Therefore, there is no building or construction. The stones are here, but they are all lying flat in the same plane or dimension. There is no three-dimensional building. If you and I were willing to give ourselves to God and let Him do the work of building, I am afraid that we would all have many corners and sharp edges that would need to be hacked off, pounded with hammers, and beaten with iron tools. God has to work on us so that we can be built together.
Some people say that the Lord is building the church, not the New Jerusalem. This kind of thought is foolish. Ephesians 2, 1 Peter 2, and Matthew 16 show that today God is saving us and working on us to build us into God’s habitation. Today we are the habitation that God is building. One day the new heaven and new earth will appear in which will be the habitation, the New Jerusalem. Therefore, the habitation that God is building today is the church, and the habitation in the future will be the New Jerusalem. These are not two habitations but one habitation. If they were two habitations, I am afraid that in the future we would be abandoned. If they were two habitations, then today in the age of grace God would build us into the church, His habitation, and then in the future God would abandon us and build the New Jerusalem, a larger habitation. God is not like this. The church as His habitation today is a precursor of the New Jerusalem as His habitation in the future. The church is a miniature of the ultimate habitation. The New Jerusalem as God’s habitation is the full consummation of the church as His habitation.
Throughout the generations God has not been building two habitations in the universe—one on the earth as the church and one in the heavens as the New Jerusalem. In all the generations God has not had two works but one work. The Lord Jesus said that He was going to prepare a place for us, and He also said that He would build the church upon Himself as the rock. These two statements do not mean that the Lord had two works—one work of building the church on the earth and one work of preparing the New Jerusalem in heaven. Rather, the Lord has only one work—the church that He is building on the earth is the New Jerusalem that He is preparing in the heavens.
Hebrews 11 says that God is building a city. That building is the spiritual house mentioned in 1 Peter 2 and also God’s habitation mentioned in Ephesians 2. Today the building is being built on a small scale. Today it is merely a house, a spiritual house, but when it reaches full completion in the future, it will be a city, something much larger in scale. Therefore, we can see that God has only one work in the universe today, that is, to build an abode for Himself. The miniature of this abode is the church today, the spiritual house which is His habitation. Ultimately, at the time of completion it will be a holy city and a tabernacle, the mutual abode of God and man. Please remember that the church and the New Jerusalem are not two parallel entities. Rather, the church and the New Jerusalem are connected to one another. The church is a precursor of the New Jerusalem, and the New Jerusalem is the consummation of the church. The two are one. God’s building of the church is also His building of the New Jerusalem. God’s building in us is the building of the church and also the building of the eternal abode in the future. This is a very mysterious concept. One day we will all realize that the habitation or abode that God is building in every age is a union of three entities—Him, us, and heaven. The New Jerusalem in the future will be our eternal abode, a city built by God through all the generations.
What kind of material is God using to build His habitation? God is mingling Himself into our being and also adding heaven into us. Thus, the material is the union of three entities—God, man, and heaven. This is like the materials that a cement worker uses to make concrete, which is a mixture of sand, crushed stones, and cement. The three—God, man, and heaven—are being mingled and built together, and one day, when they are ready and manifested, they will be the New Jerusalem. Therefore, the eternal abode that we will ultimately enter into is not something unrelated to us today or something completely objective to us.
We who are stones are the materials of the city that God has been building throughout the ages. God will keep working on us and building us, the stones, until a city is built at the end. God, man, and also heaven will be in that city. Heaven will be in it, God will be in it, and man will also be in it. However, the heaven in the New Jerusalem will not merely be heaven; it will be heaven mingled within man. God will be there, as well as His glory, life, nature, and image. However, in the New Jerusalem, God will not be purely God but God mingled within man. Man will also be there. The twelve foundations of the wall of the city have the twelve names of the twelve apostles. The stone that has Peter’s name signifies the man Peter. Therefore, man will truly be there. Not only the ones in the New Testament will be there, but the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel in the Old Testament are also there, indicating that they will be there as well.
Therefore, the New Jerusalem is not merely man. Rather, it is man mingled with God. Furthermore, it is not only man mingled with God but also God and man mingled with heaven, the three mingled into one. This is truly a mystery, showing that the way of the eternal abode is the way of life. Do not think that even if we do not grow today or, as men of clay, we are not transformed and remain what we are, then one day we will simply enter into the New Jerusalem. Can a man of clay who has not been transformed be put among precious stones? Is he worthy of such a thing? Of course he is not. This is not the case. It is by our growth in life and by our being transformed continually unto maturity that we will one day become fully mature, issuing in the New Jerusalem. It is not a matter of entering in or going up but of allowing God to build us and work us into the New Jerusalem. This is the way of the New Jerusalem, the way of life.
Do you want to be a part of that eternal abode? If so, you must let God work in you to such an extent that you become a part of that eternal abode. Some saints have said that they truly want to mature but that they do not know the way to reach maturity. In the past they thought that everything would be all right if they only believed in the precious blood of Jesus. They did not care about their condition or whether they overcame or failed. They thought that as long as they were saved and were justified in His blood, they would definitely “go to heaven.” However, now they are worried, because they realize that to be a part of God’s eternal abode requires maturity in life. How can we mature? What is the way to become mature? The answer can be found in 1 Corinthians 3:9, which says that we are God’s cultivated land, God’s building. God’s building is His cultivating. This means that the way to grow unto maturity is to let God build within us and to allow God to work within us. This is not a heavy doctrine but a very personal experience. We have to allow the Spirit to work within us, to touch our difficulties, to hew our corners and sharp edges, and to move and operate within us. If we do not allow Him to work within us and do not let Him build within us, we cannot have the growth and maturity in life. His building is our growth; His work is our maturity.
We have to pay the price to answer His demand within us. What is the way to maturity? The way is to let God work in us. He is a living God. He is in us ruling, restricting, touching, motivating, and turning us. In order to be willing to let Him be everything to us, to work in us, and to build in us, we have to pay the price. How do we pay the price? We pay the price by following His feelings within us. We need to follow whatever we sense in our spirit, the deepest part within us. If we let God work and build in us, then we will be blessed. We will be the stones prepared and ready in God’s hands. When the Lord comes, our life will be manifested. He will have built us together one by one. One stone will be Peter, another will be Paul, and another may be you or me. Thus, the city, the New Jerusalem, is being built piece by piece. Therefore, the eternal abode is not something we enter into but something we grow into. If we let God work within us, then we will grow, become mature, and ultimately grow to be the New Jerusalem.
