THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
Revelation
Message Five—The New Jerusalem—the Ultimate Consummation
Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:12-13, 18-21; 22:1; 21:11, 18-21, 23-25; 22:1-2, 5, 14, 19
I. The three gates on each of the four sides of the holy city signify that the Triune God is the triune entrance into the New Jerusalem—Rev. 21:12-13, 21; Luke 15; John 14:2; 1 Tim. 3:15; Rev. 21:3, 22: (1999 WT, msg. 23)
A. That there are three gates on each side signifies that the three of the Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—work together to bring people into the holy city—cf. 5:9: (1999 WT, msg. 23)
1. The Son’s redeeming, the Spirit’s seeking, and the Father’s receiving are a complete entrance into the Father’s house, the church, consummating in the New Jerusalem—Luke 15; John 14:2; 1 Tim. 3:15; Rev. 21:3, 22. (1999 WT, msg. 23)
2. To be baptized into the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is the real entrance into the holy city—Matt. 28:19. (1999 WT, msg. 23)
3. Through God the Father’s selection as the initiation, God the Spirit’s sanctification to carry out the selection of the Father, and God the Son’s redemption as the completion, we enter into the enjoyment of the Triune God, the enjoyment of the New Jerusalem—1 Pet. 1:2; Rev. 22:14. (1999 WT, msg. 23)
B. Through God the Son, who is the Accomplisher, the means, and in God the Spirit, who is the Executor, the application, we have access unto God the Father, who is the Originator, the source of our enjoyment—Eph. 2:18. (1999 WT, msg. 23)
C. We need to pray to the Father as the source to be strengthened through the Spirit as the means for the goal of Christ making His home in our hearts that we may be filled unto all the fullness of the Triune God, which is our complete entering into the Triune God for His full expression as the New Jerusalem—Eph. 3:14-19. (1999 WT, msg. 23)
II. The three kinds of precious materials for the building of the holy city signify that the Triune God is the triune constitution of the New Jerusalem— Rev. 21:18-21: (1999 WT, msg. 23)
A. Gold signifies God the Father in His holy nature as the base of God’s organic building—vv. 18, 21: (1999 WT, msg. 23)
1. We need to partake of and be constituted with the holy and divine nature of God, the divine element of the New Jerusalem—Eph. 1:4; 2 Pet. 1:4. (1999 WT, msg. 23)
2. We have to do everything according to the divine nature of God, taking the divine nature as our pathway, to be under the ruling of God’s golden administration—Rev. 21:21; 22:1; cf. 1 Kings 10:18: (1999 WT, msg. 23)
B. Pearls signify the issue of Christ’s secretion in two aspects—His redeeming and life-releasing death and His life-dispensing resurrection—Rev. 21:21. (1999 WT, msg. 23)
C. Precious stones signify the Spirit’s work to transform the redeemed and regenerated saints for the building of God’s eternal habitation that they may express God corporately in His all-permeating glory—Rev. 21:18-20: (1999 WT, msg. 23)
III. The river of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb signifies that the Triune God is the triune existence of the New Jerusalem—Rev. 22:1: (1999 WT, msg. 23)
A. God the Father is our Creator, God the Son is our Redeemer, and God the Spirit is our Regenerator to give us a triune existence—Rev. 22:1; Gen. 2:7; John 1:29; 3:6. (1999 WT, msg. 23)
B. The application of the New Jerusalem in its triune existence is described in Ephesians 4:4-6, which shows us how the Body of Christ exists with the Father, the Lord, and the Spirit as a foretaste of the existence of the New Jerusalem in eternity: (1999 WT, msg. 23)
1. We are existing with God the Father as the source of the Body, allowing Him to be over us, through us, and in us—v. 6; Luke 8:15; Rom. 8:11. (1999 WT, msg. 23)
2. We are existing with the Lord Christ as the element of the Body, living Him, existing by Him, through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ for His magnification in our existence—Eph. 4:5; Phil. 1:19-21a. (1999 WT, msg. 23)
3. We are existing with the Spirit as the essence of the Body (Eph. 4:4)—walking by the Spirit (Gal. 5:25), serving by the Spirit (Phil. 3:3), drinking the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13), being transformed by the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18), and being strengthened and enriched by the sevenfold intensified Spirit (Rev. 4:5; 5:6) for the Body life, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem. (1999 WT, msg. 23)
IV. The Triune God—the Father as the light of life, the Son as the tree of life, and the Spirit as the river of life—is the triune enjoyment of the New Jerusalem—cf. Psa. 36:8-9: (1999 WT, msg. 24)
A. God as the light shines from within the Lamb as the lamp through the New Jerusalem as the diffuser—Rev. 21:23-25, 11; 22:5. (1999 WT, msg. 24)
B. The enjoyment of Christ as the tree of life will be the eternal portion of all God’s redeemed— Rev. 22:14. (1999 WT, msg. 24)
C. The river of water of life is the flowing out of the Triune God—the Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God reaching His redeemed people for their enjoyment—Rev. 22:1. (1999 WT, msg. 24)
V. The Triune God—the Father as the source of life, the Son as the tree of life, and the Spirit as the flow of life—is the triune living of the New Jerusalem—Rev. 22:1-2: (1999 WT, msg. 24)
A. We need to live out the Father as the source of life on the throne—John 5:26. (1999 WT, msg. 24)
B. We need to live out the Son as the life and life supply, the tree of life—Rev. 22:2; 2:7; John 14:6. (1999 WT, msg. 24)
C. We need to live out the Spirit as the bountiful supply of the processed and consummated Triune God, the flow of life—Rev. 22:1; Phil. 1:19. (1999 WT, msg. 24)
VI. The Triune God—the Father as the source of the divine riches, the Son as the embodiment of the divine riches, and the Spirit as the realization of the divine riches—is the triune expression of the New Jerusalem—Rev. 21:18-21; 22:1-2: (1999 WT, msg. 24)
A. The expression of God the Father as the source of the divine riches is His communicable glory in His rich life—21:11, 21. (1999 WT, msg. 24)
B. The expression of God the Son as the embodiment of the divine riches is in His person and with His work. (1999 WT, msg. 24)
C. The expression of God the Spirit as the realization of the divine riches is in His all-inclusiveness as the consummation of the processed Triune God: (1999 WT, msg. 24)
1. The all-inclusive Spirit as the river of water of life flows with God, with the Lamb, with the throne, with the divine nature as the divine way, and with all the unsearchable riches of Christ to saturate our entire being— Rev. 22:1-2, 17. (1999 WT, msg. 24)
2. The Christian life must be a life in the Spirit, by the Spirit, and with the Spirit, issuing in the fruit of the Spirit, with all the divine attributes expressed in human virtues—Gal. 5:16, 22-23, 25. (1999 WT, msg. 24)