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In this message we shall cover two very crucial aspects of New Jerusalem — its gates and its street. Undoubtedly, the city proper, the wall, and the foundations are very important. However, if the New Jerusalem had no gates, there would be no way to enter into it. In that case, this city would not be at all practical; it would be good only for exhibition. But because the New Jerusalem has twelve gates, it is very practical.
Some ministries are good. However, because these ministries have no gates and no streets, there is no way to actually enter into what they have to offer. The special character of Brother Nee’s ministry is that whenever he ministered a particular matter, he always gave you a clear view of the way to enter into it. Many talk about Romans chapters five, six, seven, and eight. But no matter how much they talk about these chapters, they do not give you the way to get into them. Brother Nee’s book, The Normal Christian Life, on the contrary, shows us the gates and a definite way to practice what this book describes. The more you read this book, the more you can see the gates it provides for you. Although I appreciated certain other ministries in the past, I eventually discovered that there was no way to enter into what was being presented. The ones who had those ministries could show me a beautiful building in the air that I could admire, but they provided no practical way for me to enter into it. The ministry in the Lord’s recovery today continues the principle of Brother Nee’s ministry. Everything we minister is presented in a practical way. Hence, you have a way to enter into what the ministry provides you. Likewise, New Jerusalem is practical. Its practicality is seen in its gates and in its street. No matter from what direction you approach this city, you have a way to enter into it.
This matter of practicality has caused me to lose a number of good, intimate friends in the Lord. Once I was invited to England to stay with a brother who had an outstanding ministry. While I was there, this brother and I had a number of long conversations lasting two to three hours each. All our conversations concerned the practicality of the Body of Christ. We both had seen the Body, God’s present testimony, and the principle of resurrection life. I could echo what this brother had seen, and he could echo what I had seen, especially regarding the Lord’s Body. However, there was a difference between us. Through the help of Brother Nee, I had seen the practicality of the Body and was burdened to take care of this. But those related to this ministry in England did not care for the practical aspect. Eventually, through our lengthy conversations, I learned that this brother had only the view of the Body, but no practical way to experience it. He neither saw this practicality nor was willing to see it. I made it clear to him that we wanted not only the vision of the Body, but also the practicality of the Body. In my concern for the practicality of the church, I have published the book entitled, The Practical Expression of the Church. Although I have lost some dear friends over the matter of the practicality of the church, the way is still the way. During the more than eighteen years since my visit with this brother in England, the Lord has vindicated the practicality of the church.
Let us now devote our attention to the gates of New Jerusalem. The significance of the gates is not less profound than that of the foundations. It is crucial to grasp the significance of these twelve gates.
Revelation 21:13 reveals that in New Jerusalem there are three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west. Thus, the city lies square (v. 16), with three gates on each of its four sides. The east side at the front, toward the glory of the sunrising, ranks first; the north side at the top ranks second; the south side at the bottom ranks third; and the west side at the rear ranks fourth. The gates on the four sides are toward the four directions of the earth, signifying the availability of the entrance of the holy city to all the peoples on earth. (Compare with the four heads of the river in Genesis 2:10-14.)
The three gates on each side signify that the Triune God — Father, Son, and Spirit — work together to bring people into the holy city. This is indicated in the three parables in Luke 15 and implied in the Lord’s word in Matthew 28:19. The three parables in Luke 15 concern the shepherd and the lost sheep, the woman and the lost coin, and the father and the returned prodigal son. The shepherd refers to the Son; the father, of course, to the Father; and the woman signifies the Spirit. In order for a sinner to be brought back to the Father’s house, there is the need of the Son, the shepherd, to bring back the lost sheep; there is the need of the Spirit to enlighten the hearts of people that they may repent; and there is the need of the Father to receive the returned and repentant prodigal son. Hence, the Triune God is the entrance into the New Jerusalem.
The fact that the Triune God is working to bring people into the holy city is also implied in the Lord’s word in Matthew 28:19. To be baptized into the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is the entrance into the holy city. Thus, the Father, Son, and Spirit are the three gates on each side of the city. The three gates are not on three sides respectively; rather, there are three gates on each of the four sides repeatedly. The gates on any one of the sides are exactly the same as the gates on the other three sides. This indicates that the Triune God is available to people in all four corners of the earth.
The three gates indicate that the Triune God has come to reach us and to bring us into His eternal economy. The three in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, have come out in God’s economy to reach us and to bring us back to His economy. A number of verses in the New Testament speak of the Triune God. For example, in Ephesians 3:14 through 17 Paul said, “I bow my knees unto the Father... that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man; that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” In these verses we see the Father, the Spirit, and Christ, the Son. Second Corinthians 13:14 also unfolds the Triune God: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” In this verse the three of the Godhead are for His dispensing, for His going out and coming in, that is, for His spreading out and our entering in.
The first mention of man in the whole Bible speaks of him in relation to the Triune God. Genesis 1:26 says, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” The “us” in this verse refers to the Triune God. Thus, in the verse where man is first mentioned, God is alluded to as being triune. If God were not triune, He would not be able to dispense Himself into us, to work Himself into us, and to mingle Himself with us. But because God is triune, He can enter into human beings. The Father is the source, the Son is the course, and the Spirit is the flow. In this way, the Triune God comes into us.
Three gates on each of the four sides, constituting the number twelve, also imply the mingling of the Triune God with man, God’s creature. The number four signifies the creature (4:6), and the number three, of course, signifies the Triune God. The number twelve does not denote addition but multiplication. Three times four indicates that the Triune God mingles Himself with His creature, man, to produce a composition, a compound.
Verse 21 says, “And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was, respectively, of one pearl.” We have seen that gold signifies the divine nature and that the precious stones signify what is produced by the transforming work of the Spirit. The significance of the pearl is found in the way it is produced. Pearls are produced by oysters in the waters of death. When the oyster is wounded by a particle of sand, it secretes its life-juice around the sand and makes it a precious pearl. This depicts Christ as the living One coming into the death waters, being wounded by us, and secreting His life-juice over us to make us precious pearls for the building of God’s eternal expression.
We must admire God’s wisdom. Nearly everything in His creation is an illustration of an aspect of His economy. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He used many of the things found in nature as parables. Light, wheat, food, and even pearl-producing oysters are parables. Christ, the living One, entered into our death situation and lived in it. Through living in the waters of death, He was wounded by us. After wounding Him, we remained near His wound. This means that we repented, believed in Him, and received Him. How deeply we appreciate the wounds He suffered in His crucifixion! As we stay near His wounds, He secretes the life-juice of His resurrection life, and this life-juice envelops us and eventually transforms us into pearls. By staying at Christ’s wound, we receive His life and are regenerated. By remaining there after our regeneration, we are also transformed and become pearls.
That the twelve gates of the holy city are twelve pearls signifies that regeneration through the death-overcoming and life-secreting Christ is the entrance into the city. This entrance meets the requirement of the law as represented by Israel and as observed by the guarding angels (v. 12). Hence, the pearl is the entrance into the city. How did you enter into the New Jerusalem? Did you climb over the wall? This would be impossible because the wall is too high. The only way to enter into the New Jerusalem is through the pearl gates, through the gates constituted with the overcoming death and the life-imparting resurrection of Christ. Praise the Lord, we have all entered the New Jerusalem in this way! We confessed, we repented, we appreciated His death, and we enjoyed staying at His wounds. Immediately, we received the life-secretion that regenerated us and that is now transforming us. Through our experience of the death and resurrection of Christ, we have passed through the pearl gates and are now within the city. Hallelujah!
The fact that each one of the gates is, respectively, of one pearl indicates that the entrance into the city is unique and once for all; that is, it is only through the once-for-all regeneration by Christ’s overcoming death and life-imparting resurrection.
The names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel are inscribed on the twelve gates of the city (v. 12). Israel here represents the law of the Old Testament, indicating that the law is represented at the gates of New Jerusalem. The law watches and observes to insure that all the communications, the comings in and the goings out, of the holy city meet its requirements. Thus, all the communications of this city are according to the law of God.
The apostles represent grace, whereas the twelve tribes of Israel represent the law. The twelve gates were produced according to the law. Christ died for our sin according to the law and, in a very positive sense, He was also resurrected from among the dead for the complement of the law. Even our repentance was according to the law, for we repented because we had violated the law, and we confessed our sins according to the law. Thus, the law was the basic factor in Christ’s death and in our repentance and confession. This means that the twelve pearl gates are absolutely according to the law and have fulfilled the requirements of the law. Our entrance into the holy city did not break the law; rather, it was according to the law and even a fulfillment of the law. Whatever the law required was fulfilled in our entering into the city. In other words, we entered into New Jerusalem according to the law. Our entrance was altogether legal and lawful because by His death and resurrection Christ had completely fulfilled the requirements of the law. This matter is quite deep.
Because our entrance into the New Jerusalem through the pearl gates had to be according to the law, we all had to repent, confess our sins, and say “O Lord Jesus, You not only died for my sins; You also died for me. Lord, I confess that I am sinful, that I have committed a great many sins, and that I am worthy of nothing but death. Lord, how I thank You for dying for me.” This kind of repentance and confession fulfills the requirement of the law and makes our entrance into the city lawful.
The middle part of verse 12 says, “Having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels.” The twelve gates of the city are for communication, for coming in and going out. Twelve is the number of absolute perfection and eternal completion in God’s administration. Hence, twelve gates indicate that the communication in the New Jerusalem is absolutely perfect and eternally complete for God’s administration.
Verse 12 tells us that at the gates of the city there are twelve angels. In God’s eternal economy, angels are ministering spirits rendering service to those who inherit salvation and participate in the eternal blessing of the New Jerusalem, the center of the new heaven and new earth. The angels will be the gatekeepers of our possession, while we shall be the ones enjoying the rich inheritance in God’s eternal economy. This is all in the significance of the number twelve.
The angels at the twelve gates observe the enjoyment of those who enter in. In Luke 15:10 the Lord said, “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.” Whenever a sinner repents, the angels in heaven are happy. When you repented and received the Lord, did you notify the angels of this fact? Of course not. Long before you were ever saved, the angels were observing you all the time, realizing that you had been chosen and predestinated, pre-marked by God. Due to your stubbornness, it might have taken you more than fifteen or twenty years to repent. But on the day you repented and called on the name of the Lord Jesus, the angels who were watching you rejoiced. Your angel might have said, “The one whom I have been observing for more than twenty-five years has finally repented. Hallelujah!”
The angels observe us according to the law to see whether we have truly repented and confessed our sins to God and whether we have entered into the holy city according to the law of Israel. The children of Israel represent the law, and the angels, “ministering spirits, sent forth for service for the sake of those who are about to inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14), are gatekeepers. Firstly, the angels watch at the gates to see how we repent. Then, after we have repented and entered into New Jerusalem, the angels become our servants. We are the heirs, owners of the universe, and the angels are our servants. According to the ancient custom among the Jews in Palestine, the servants were concerned that the heirs would receive their portion and inheritance. Likewise, the angels, the servants of our Father’s family, are very concerned about our inheritance and about the fact that the heirs have been lost and have fallen away. Thus, the angelic gatekeepers are waiting for us to come back. When they see us returning, they rejoice and immediately begin to minister to us, gladly helping the repentant heirs enjoy their legal inheritance. By this brief consideration of the angels, we see once again that in order to understand any point in the book of Revelation, we must trace the development of this matter throughout the Scriptures.
Psalm 34:7 says, “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” According to this verse, angels even camp around us to protect us. Many nights I have said, “Lord, exercise Your authority to send a camp of angels to protect my house.” I have especially prayed this way when I was traveling and spending a night in a room on the upper floor of a hotel. Being concerned about the possibility of fire, I asked the Lord to send the angels to camp around me. The angels are truly the servants of the legal and genuine heirs of the riches of God.
Verse 25 says, “And its gates shall by no means be shut by day, for night shall not be there.” The wall of the city will separate it from the nations, but the gates will keep it open to them continually.
Verse 21 says, “And the street of the city was pure gold as transparent glass.” The gates are for entering into the city, whereas the street is for the daily walk, the daily living. The entering into the city is through Christ’s death and resurrection, whereas the daily walk, the daily living in the city, is according to the divine nature, signified by the street being pure gold. Following the entrance of regeneration, the daily life and walk of the saints must be in the way of the divine nature. The divine nature is their way.
The Bible is different from the natural human concept. According to the human concept, we firstly walk on the street and then enter the gate. But in the Bible we firstly enter the gate and then walk on the street. In Catholicism people are told that they must first work and then receive salvation. This thought is devilish. In God’s economy we receive salvation first, and then we work. Firstly, we enter into grace; then we walk in grace. Never think that by walking or working you will eventually be qualified to receive grace. No, grace is free. After you have entered in through the gates by grace, you will begin to walk, and you will need to walk a long way.
It is a very long way from the gates to the top of the golden mountain where the throne of God is. Recall that the New Jerusalem, a golden mountain, is twelve thousand stadia high (more than thirteen hundred and sixty miles). Furthermore, the golden street is a spiral, and this makes the way a great deal longer. Nevertheless, we have no choice except to walk on this street. I have been walking on this street for more than fifty-one years, and I am still on the way. Although I may desire to walk faster, sometimes the brothers drag me back, and I am forced to wait for them.
The street in New Jerusalem is uniquely one. There is no maze, no leading astray, and no getting lost. This street is unique. No matter through which gate you enter into the city, you will find yourself on the same street. In the New Jerusalem there is no such thing as a Baptist street, a Presbyterian street, a Methodist street, or a Lutheran street. Neither is the street in New Jerusalem related to any “ism.” The street is God’s divine nature. In this divine nature we are one.
Verse 21 says that the street of the city is pure gold. We have seen that gold signifies the divine nature. After we are saved and enter into New Jerusalem, we must walk on the divine nature as our way. The divine nature is our way and our strength. Suppose a sister says to me, “Brother Lee, I love the Lord and I want to live in the New Jerusalem. Can you tell me the style of clothing I should wear and how I should fashion my hair?” I would tell this sister that she should choose her clothes and fashion her hair according to the divine nature within her. The style, color, material, and design of her clothing should be according to the divine gold within. The divine nature is our street, our way, and we all must walk according to it. Today, our way is not that of regulations; it is the divine nature. Do you not have the gold nature within you? Then walk according to it. Since you have the divine life with the divine nature, why do you not walk upon it? Is your speaking according to the divine nature or according to your muddy human nature? May we all see that today the nature of God is our street.
We in the Lord’s recovery are walking in the divine nature. As many of the leading brothers can testify, I do not tell others what to do. Rather, I encourage them to walk according to the divine nature within them. Because the divine nature is our golden street, in the church life we have no need for regulations. The street itself is our regulation, for nothing regulates people more than a street. Every driver of an automobile is spontaneously regulated by the street on which he drives. In the New Jerusalem everyone is regulated by the unique street, by the golden nature of God within us.
The pure gold, which symbolizes both the street and the city proper of New Jerusalem, is as transparent glass (v. 18), signifying that the whole city is transparent. The golden street is crystal clear, without any opaqueness. Although the pearls may be opaque, every one of them is a great open gate, which will not be shut by day or by night.
The street of New Jerusalem is a spiral, coming down from the throne of God to reach all God’s chosen ones. Hence, this street reaches every gate. It also leads us from the gates to God’s throne.
The one street serves all twelve gates in four directions. On this street all God’s redeemed walk in absolute oneness as they are led by the street to the throne of God. Hence, in New Jerusalem there is one street leading to one goal.
Revelation 22:1 says, “And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street.” This verse reveals that the river of water of life is flowing in the middle of the street. Therefore, in this street is the life supply. Furthermore, as 22:2 says, “And on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month.” Here we see that the tree of life, which is in the river, grows on the two sides of the river along the street. Thus, all the life supply is related to the street. The more we walk, act, and have our being according to the divine nature, the more of the life supply we shall receive. However, if you do not care for the divine nature within you, but do things according to your taste, you will immediately lose the supply of life. But if you take care of the divine nature within you in a practical way in your daily life, you will enjoy the rich life supply found along the golden street.
