(1)
In this message and in the six following messages we shall consider the various aspects of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:9-27).
Firstly, we need to know the way to see the vision of the New Jerusalem. One of the seven angels who executed the seven last plagues showed New Jerusalem to John (v. 9). This signifies that the judgment of the seven bowls is for New Jerusalem.
Verse 10 says, “And he carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” If we would see the vision of New Jerusalem, we must be in spirit. Before John saw the vision of the seven churches, he also was in spirit (Rev. 1:10). Chapter one not only tells us that John was in spirit; it also reveals that he was on the island called Patmos. If this were not important, it would not have been recorded in the Bible. By being on the island of Patmos and by being in spirit, John could see the churches, the seven golden lampstands. Although many read and study the book of Revelation and have even read our messages on the seven lampstands, they do not see anything. The reason is they are neither in the right position nor in the spirit.
In order to see anything we need the right standing with the correct angle, and we need the ability to see. Immediately before John saw the seven golden lampstands, he heard a loud voice and he turned to see the voice that spoke with him (Rev. 1:10, 12). I hope that as many in the denominations are reading these life-study messages they will hear a voice and turn to see. However, although many have heard the voice, they are not willing to turn. Even if they do turn to see the voice, they may lack the ability to see. Many denominational preachers have cataracts upon their spiritual eyes. They need to have a specialist remove these cataracts that they may see the vision of the church. When we have the proper position with the right angle and the ability to see, we are able to see the vision of the seven golden lampstands. This was John’s situation on the island of Patmos. Because he was in the proper position and because he was in spirit, he saw the seven golden lampstands as soon as he turned to see the voice.
The principle is the same in seeing the New Jerusalem. In 21:10 John tells us that an angel carried him away in spirit. Never despise your spirit; it is capable of seeing New Jerusalem. The phrase “in spirit” is used four times in the book of Revelation (Rev. 1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10). Each time this phrase is used it introduces one of the four main visions which compose this book. These visions are the vision of the church, the vision of the judgment upon the world, the vision of Babylon the Great, and the vision of New Jerusalem. These four visions are in two pairs. The church and the world are the first pair, and Babylon the Great and New Jerusalem are the second. The world is in contrast to the church, and Babylon the Great is in contrast to the New Jerusalem. The entire book of Revelation is constituted with the church, the world, Babylon, and New Jerusalem. Each time John saw one of these visions he was in spirit. In spirit John saw the churches; in spirit he saw the destiny of the world; in spirit he saw the Great Babylon; and in spirit he saw New Jerusalem. I can testify that even now I have before me a clear view of these four things. In the first chapter I see the seven churches and in the last chapter, the New Jerusalem. Between these chapters I see the world and Babylon the Great.
If you want to see these visions, you must be in spirit. Do not exercise your mind to think about the situation. Rather, turn to the spirit and stay there. If you exercise your mind instead of remaining in your spirit, these four visions will disappear from view. If we stay in our mind, we may not think that the world situation is that bad. But if we turn to our spirit and remain there, calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, we shall clearly see the seven lampstands and the fact that the whole world is under God’s judgment. The longer we stay in spirit contacting the Lord, the clearer we shall become concerning the world situation. Furthermore, we shall see the prostitute and realize that she is destined for destruction. Although we may not understand all these things or be able to explain them to others, we shall certainly see them for ourselves. We shall also see New Jerusalem, including all the details, such as the twelve gates and the golden street.
Our need today is vision, not understanding. What value is there in understanding the city of Anaheim if you have never seen it? According to the book of Revelation, the apostle John saw many things, including New Jerusalem. Thus, his book of Revelation is not a lecture, a sermon, or even a message; it is a description and a declaration of what he saw. John was taken on a universal tour. After his tour, he seemed to say, “Oh, I have seen Satan cast into the lake of fire and I have seen the New Jerusalem!” We all need to get into our spirit and take this kind of sightseeing tour. After you have seen New Jerusalem, you will not be able to deny the fact that you have seen it.
When John saw New Jerusalem, he was both in spirit and also carried away onto a great and high mountain. The great and high mountain is in contrast to the wilderness in 17:3. To see Babylon, the great prostitute, John was carried to the wilderness. To see the Bride, the New Jerusalem, he was carried to a great and high mountain. We need to be uplifted to a high mountain that we may see God’s dwelling place for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose. In order for John to see the churches, it was sufficient to be on the island of Patmos. But the New Jerusalem is vastly higher than the churches, and in order to see it, John had to be carried to a high mountain. The New Jerusalem is a mountain city, and we must be on a mountain in order to see it. We need to be in the spirit and to get to a high mountain. This is the way to see the vision of the New Jerusalem.
We also need to know what the New Jerusalem is. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of God’s building work throughout the centuries. Beginning with Adam and continuing for nearly sixty centuries, God has been doing a great deal of building. The issue of this work will be the New Jerusalem, God’s eternal habitation.
We have seen that the time from Adam until the end of the millennium is divided into four dispensations: the dispensation of the Patriarchs, from Adam to Moses; the dispensation of law, from Moses to Christ; the dispensation of grace, from Christ’s first coming until the restoration of all things at Christ’s second coming; and the dispensation of the kingdom, from Christ’s second coming to the end of the millennium. During these dispensations God has been carrying out His building work, and He will continue it. Most Christians, however, do not care for God’s building; they care only for their human religion. Praise the Lord that we have been rescued from that pitiful situation! Now we are not in a human religion; we are in the building of God. Presently this building is the churches, and eternally it will be the New Jerusalem. We are in the churches and we are on our way to the New Jerusalem. Thank the Lord that we have such a clear view of the New Jerusalem, our ultimate destiny.
In verse 2 John says, “And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” The New Jerusalem is a living composition of all the saints redeemed by God throughout all generations. It is the Bride of Christ as His counterpart (John 3:29) and the holy city of God as His habitation. This is the city, the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22), which God has prepared for us and which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob longed after (Heb. 11:10, 16). It is also the Jerusalem which is above and which is the mother of us all (Gal. 4:26).
This New Jerusalem will come down out of heaven to earth. Verses 2 and 10 both say that New Jerusalem comes “down out of heaven from God.” God’s intention is not to have an eternal habitation in heaven; He desires to dwell on earth. Although religion dreams of going to heaven, God desires to come down to earth. Even today, God’s best habitation is not heaven; it is the church on earth. Today God has two dwelling places — the heavens and the church. God dwells in heaven with His angels, and He also dwells on earth with His children. If you were the Father, would you prefer to stay with the angels, the servants, or with your children? If the servants lived in a mansion and the children lived in a poor cottage, would you prefer to live in the mansion or in the cottage? Certainly you would prefer to be with your children in the cottage. It is the same with God. How He desires to dwell in the church! Although the appearance of the church is not marvelous or splendid, the children of God are there, and God enjoys being with them. Eventually, the poor “cottage” of the church will be transformed into the New Jerusalem, which will be far more splendid than any mansion.
New Jerusalem will be an immense city, twelve thousand stadia in length, breadth, and height (v. 16). Twelve thousand stadia is approximately one thousand three hundred and sixty miles, the distance from San Diego to Seattle. The distance from the east coast of the United States to the west coast is about three thousand miles. Thus, the length of the New Jerusalem will be almost half that of the United States. What a tremendous city this will be! It will be about seven million feet high. This city, which is far more wonderful than we could ever imagine, will actually come down from heaven to earth. Of course, the earth at that time will be the new earth (vv. 1, 24, 26).
The New Jerusalem is the holy city (vv. 2, 10). As the holy city of God, the New Jerusalem is holy, sanctified, fully separated unto God, and thoroughly saturated with God’s holy nature to be His habitation. This holy city is thoroughly permeated and mingled with God. This great city, more than thirteen hundred and sixty miles in length, width, and height, will be utterly separated unto God and saturated with Him. One day, we shall actually be there. Today we see New Jerusalem in a vision, but the time is coming when we shall be in it. How excited we shall be! No doubt we shall recall the vision we saw of it when we were still on earth.
Verse 2 says that the New Jerusalem is “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband,” and in verse 9 one of the angels says, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” In both the Old and New Testaments, God 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). The spouse is for God’s satisfaction in love. As the Bride of Christ, New Jerusalem comes out of Christ, her husband, and becomes His counterpart, just as Eve came out of Adam, her husband, and became his counterpart (Gen. 2:21-24). She is prepared by participating in the riches of the life and nature of Christ.
Verse 9 speaks of the Bride and the wife. The Bride is mainly for the wedding day, whereas the wife is for the entire life. The New Jerusalem will be the Bride in the millennium for one thousand years as one day (2 Pet. 3:8) and the wife in the new heaven and new earth for eternity. The Bride in the kingdom age will include the overcomers (Rev. 3:12; 19:7-9), but the wife in eternity will include all God’s redeemed ones (Rev. 21:9).
Since the New Jerusalem is the Bride, we should not consider her a material city. It is impossible for a material entity to be the Bride. God would never marry such a thing. He will only marry something living. The Bride will be composed of all the redeemed, regenerated, and transformed saints of God. In the New Jerusalem there will be no wood, bricks, or dust. Instead, there will be gold, pearl, and transformed precious stones.
Verse 3 says, “And I heard a loud voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall tabernacle with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them.” In both the Old and the New Testaments, God also likens His chosen people to a dwelling place for Himself (Exo. 29:45-46; Num. 5:3; Ezek. 43:7, 9; Psa. 68:18; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; 1 Tim. 3:15). As the spouse is for God’s satisfaction in love, so the dwelling place is for His rest in expression. Both aspects will be ultimately consummated in the New Jerusalem. In her, God will have the fullest satisfaction in love and the utmost rest in expression for eternity. As God’s habitation, New Jerusalem will be the tabernacle of God with men for eternity. It will be God’s dwelling place among men — the nations — to express Him. The tabernacle made by Moses was a type of this tabernacle (Exo. 25:8-9; Lev. 26:11). That type was firstly fulfilled in Christ as God’s tabernacle among men (John 1:14), and eventually it will be fulfilled in the fullest way in the New Jerusalem, which will be the enlargement of Christ as God’s dwelling place. This tabernacle will also be the eternal dwelling place of God’s redeemed people. God will overshadow us with Christ. Hence, New Jerusalem will be a mutual habitation for both God and us.
A person’s dwelling place expresses the person himself. In no other place are we as fully expressed as we are in our dwelling place. If you want to know a person, visit his apartment or house. If his home is not neat, then you know that the person himself is not a neat person. But if his home is very neat, clean, and orderly, then you know that the person who dwells there is that kind of person. Suppose I visit your apartment one morning and find that your bed is not made. No matter how many lectures you may give me on diligence and neatness, I shall know by your unmade bed that you are a sloppy person. Just as our home expresses us, so the New Jerusalem, God’s tabernacle, will express Him. Every part of this city will be neat, clean, and properly built. Every aspect of it will express God. The church today as God’s habitation is also His expression. The church is both for Christ’s satisfaction and for God’s habitation. In the church, a miniature of the coming New Jerusalem, Christ is satisfied and God is expressed.
Restored mankind, the nations, will live around the New Jerusalem as the tabernacle of God, and they will enjoy God there.
The New Jerusalem will also be the paradise of God. According to the Bible there is more than one kind of paradise. Many Christians consider the garden of Eden as a paradise (Gen. 2:8). However, the Bible does not call the garden of Eden a paradise. Thus, in the Bible, there are just two paradises, the paradise mentioned by the Lord Jesus in Luke 23:43 and the New Jerusalem.
To the thief who asked the Lord to remember him when He came into His kingdom, the Lord Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). Only by studying a number of other verses can we locate this paradise. Luke 23:43 reveals that immediately after His death, the Lord Jesus went to paradise. Acts 2:27 and 31 reveal that after the Lord Jesus died, He went to Hades, and Matthew 12:40 indicates that Hades is in “the heart of the earth,” where the Lord Jesus went for three days and three nights after His death. In Hades there is a pleasant section likened to Abraham’s bosom, where Lazarus went (Luke 16:23). Thus, the paradise mentioned by the Lord in Luke 23:43 is the pleasant section of Hades. According to the Lord’s word in Luke 16, there are two sections in Hades, and between these sections there is a great chasm. When Lazarus died, he went to the pleasant section of Hades, where Abraham was. But when the rich man died, he went to the section of torment.
Some Christian teachers, such as Dr. Scofield, believe that at the time of Christ’s resurrection the pleasant section of Hades was transferred to the third heaven. The original Scofield Reference Bible has a note on Luke 16:23 to this effect. Second Cor. 12:2-4 is also used as a ground for saying this. Some interpret Paul’s word in these verses to mean that paradise is now in the third heaven. However, if you read this portion of the Word carefully according to the Greek text, you will see that it proves the opposite. In this chapter Paul was testifying that he had received a complete vision of the entire universe, which is divided into three sections: the heavens, the earth, and the region under the earth (See Phil. 2:10). Paul had come to know the things on earth, the things in heaven, and the things in paradise. This is the correct understanding of 2 Corinthians 12:2-4. (See message twenty, pp. 242-245). Paradise, the pleasant section of Hades, is still in Hades underneath the earth.
The teaching that the Old Testament saints in paradise were transferred to heaven on the day of Christ’s resurrection is not accurate. On the day of Pentecost, fifty days after the Lord’s resurrection, Peter said, “David is not ascended into the heavens” (Acts 2:34). Even at that time, David was still not in heaven. Hence, the traditional teachings regarding this matter are neither accurate nor trustworthy. According to the accurate word of the Bible, there is a pleasant section in Hades, called paradise, where the disembodied spirits and souls of the saved presently are, waiting for the time of resurrection. In principle, for a soul to be disembodied means that it is naked, and no naked person can come into God’s presence. Thus, the spirits and souls of the departed saints are in the pleasant section of Hades waiting for the day of resurrection that they may put on a glorious resurrection body and be clothed again.
The New Jerusalem as the paradise of God is different from the paradise in Hades. The paradise of the New Jerusalem, which is eternal, will be vastly superior to the paradise in Hades, which is merely a temporary lodging. The paradise of God in the New Jerusalem will be a reward to the overcomers in the kingdom age (Rev. 2:7) and a common portion to all God’s redeemed in eternity (Rev. 21:7). All the dead saints will be resurrected, will put on a resurrection body, and eventually will enter into the New Jerusalem, which will be their paradise.
