THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The Divine Economy
Message Seven—The Ultimate Consummation of God’s Eternal Economy
—the New Jerusalem
Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:2, 9-10; John 4:14b; Rev. 22:17
I. The New Jerusalem is the conclusion of the entire divine revelation and the central and ultimate consummated significance of the entire divine revelation—Rev. 21:2, 9-10:
A. The New Jerusalem is the conclusion and the total composition of the entire revelation of the Bible.
B. All the revelations and visions of the Scriptures consummate in the New Jerusalem.
II. The New Jerusalem is not a physical city, but an organic constitution, constituted of the redeeming, processed, and consummated Triune God and the redeemed, transformed, and glorified tripartite man, as the organism of consummated Triune God that He may gain the eternal enlargement and expression through the glorified tripartite man:
A. The New Jerusalem is composed of all the Old Testament and New Testament saints who are built together as the eternal building of God.
B. The New Jerusalem is the mingling of all the redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite men with the processed and consummated Triune God.
C. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate manifestation of the processed and consummated Triune God for Him to be expressed for eternity.
III. The New Jerusalem is a sign—the greatest and ultimate sign in the Scriptures (Rev. 1:1), signifying the aggregate of the result of God’s work of the new creation in all the dispensations within the old creation:
A. God’s work in the dispensation of the patriarchs on the patriarchs.
B. God’s work in the dispensation of the law on the children of Israel.
C. God’s work in the dispensation of grace on the New Testament believers.
D. God’s work in the dispensation of righteousness on the saved Israelites and on the rest of the New Testament believers not yet perfected.
IV. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate goal of God’s economy:
A. God has only one ultimate goal – the New Jerusalem – to be God’s enlargement, expansion and expression.
B. According to the entire revelation of the New Testament, the unique goal of the Christian work should be the New Jerusalem.
1. The New Jerusalem is the highest point of the apostles’ living and working.
2. We must take the goal of God’s eternal economy, the New Jerusalem, as our unique and the ultimate goal.
V. The New Jerusalem is the destination of the flowing Triune God—John 4:14b:
A. John 4:14b says, “…the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life”:
1. Into (unto in Romans 5:21) speaks of the destination, indicating that the eternal life is the destination of the flowing Triune God.
2. The eternal life will eventually be the New Jerusalem, the totality of the divine life; [thus,] into eternal life means “into the New Jerusalem.”
B. The New Jerusalem is the issue of God’s flowing in three stages: the stage of the Father, the stage of the Son, and the stage of the Spirit:
1. The Father is the fountain as the source, the Son is the spring, and the Spirit is the flowing river, and this flowing issues in the eternal life, which is the New Jerusalem.
2. The fountain emerges, the spring gushes, and the gushing is the flowing as a river into the New Jerusalem.
VI. The New Jerusalem, which is both the tabernacle and the temple, is a mutual dwelling place for the redeeming God and His redeemed—Rev. 21:2-3, 22:
A. The tabernacle is God’s redeemed, and the temple is the redeeming God:
1. The tabernacle is built mostly with the humanity of God’s redeemed to be God’s dwelling place.
2. The temple is built mostly with the divinity to be the dwelling place of God’s redeemed.
B. The New Jerusalem is the mingling of God with His redeemed, and this mingling is a mutual dwelling place.
C. The processed Triune God and His redeemed will be one mingled entity for eternity.
VII. The New Jerusalem is a universal couple─ “a loving pair eternally” ─ the consummation of the divine romance ─Rev. 22:17:
A. According to its humanity, the New Jerusalem is the human wife (with the divine life and nature) of the Lamb –21:2, 9.
B. According to its divinity, the New Jerusalem is the divine Husband (the redeeming God in His consummated embodiment, Christ, with His human life and nature) of God’s redeemed elect.
C. Revelation 22:17 indicates that Christ and the New Jerusalem as His wife will be a universal couple for eternity.
1. The Spirit, who is the totality of the processed and consummated Triune God, becomes one with the believers, who are now fully matured to be the bride.
2. The consummation of the processed Triune God and the consummation of His chosen, redeemed, regenerated, and transformed people become a universal couple expressing the Triune God for eternity.
VIII. The New Jerusalem is ultimate incorporation of God and man—the processed and consummated Triune God and His redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified elect are incorporated to be an incorporation:
A. God’s intention is for all the believers in Christ to be incorporated into the incorporation of God Himself to be an enlarged and divine-human incorporation.
B. The Bible reveals to us that the economy of God is for God and man to be incorporated into an incorporation, and this incorporation is first the Body of Christ and then the New Jerusalem.
C. The union, mingling, and incorporation of the processed and consummated Triune God and the regenerated believers will consummate in the New Jerusalem.
Ministry Excerpts:
THE NEW JERUSALEM BEING THE CITY WITH FOUNDATIONS,
WHOSE ARCHITECT AND BUILDER IS GOD AND FOR WHICH
THE OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS SUCH AS ABRAHAM,
ISAAC, AND JACOB EAGERLY WAITED
Now we want to consider what the New Jerusalem is. The New Jerusalem is the city with foundations, whose Architect and Builder is God and for which the Old Testament saints such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob eagerly waited. Hebrews 11:10 tells us this. This was the reason Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived in tents. They did not desire to live in a city in their age because they eagerly waited for the city to come, the New Jerusalem.
In Hebrews 12:22 we are told that we, the New Testament believers, are coming forward to that heavenly city, the heavenly Jerusalem. This shows us that there is something called the heavenly Jerusalem which is already in existence. Some teach that today there is no New Jerusalem. This is wrong. The Bible does not tell us that the New Jerusalem will come but that it will come down (Rev. 21:2). It was there already, but it will come down and be removed from heaven to the earth.
The Architect is God. God designed it and built it. Of course, we know that God does not build it directly. He builds it first through Christ as the Head indirectly. Then Christ gave many gifts to His Body to perfect every member of the Body. Then every member of the Body functions to do the direct building work. This is God’s building work in totality. The Old Testament saints like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were waiting for this built-up city.
THE JERUSALEM ABOVE,
THE MOTHER OF THE NEW TESTAMENT BELIEVERS
Galatians 4:26 says that the Jerusalem above is the mother of the New Testament believers. The Jerusalem beneath on this earth is a sign of the one above, and the one above is our mother. We are the children of the Jerusalem above. Thus, before we came into existence, she was there as our mother. Before we were born, our mother existed already.
THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM, THE CITY OF THE LIVING GOD,
TO WHICH THE NEW TESTAMENT BELIEVERS COME FORWARD
As we have already mentioned, the New Testament believers come forward to something which is already in existence. They come forward to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God (Heb. 12:22). This strongly proves that the New Jerusalem is now existing in the universe.
THE NEW JERUSALEM,
THE CITY OF GOD, DESCENDING OUT OF HEAVEN FROM GOD
AND APPEARING IN THE MILLENNIUM
The New Jerusalem, the city of God, descends out of heaven from God and appears in the millennium. Revelation 3:12 tells us that in the millennium, in the thousand-year kingdom, the New Jerusalem will descend out of heaven from God. Furthermore, the name of the New Jerusalem will be written on the overcoming believers.
THE PARADISE IN THE MILLENNIUM
This appearing New Jerusalem will be the Paradise of God in the thousand-year kingdom (Rev. 2:7). This is not the Paradise mentioned in Luke 23:43 as the joyful section of Hades. That was the Paradise which the Lord mentioned to the thief on the cross. The Lord told him that he would be with Him in Paradise. The Paradise mentioned in Revelation 2:7 as a reward to the overcomers is the highest Paradise in the universe; it is the New Jerusalem in the coming millennial kingdom. A number of Bible students consider the garden of Eden as a kind of Paradise. Thus, we may say that there are three Paradises: the garden of Eden at Adam’s time, the Paradise in Hades for the dead saints, and the Paradise in the millennium, the New Jerusalem.
THE COMPOSITION OF ALL THE OVERCOMERS OF BOTH
THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW TESTAMENT UP TO THE BEGINNING
OF THE THOUSAND-YEAR KINGDOM
When the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven, that will be the beginning of the millennium. The New Jerusalem will be the composition of all the overcomers of both the Old Testament and the New Testament up to the beginning of the thousand-year kingdom (Rev. 20:4-6). This is why the Lord Jesus told us in Matthew 8:11 that many would feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of the heavens. This means that in the manifestation of the kingdom in the New Jerusalem, the overcoming believers will feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In the millennium the Old Testament overcomers will feast with the New Testament overcomers.
Hebrews 11:40 shows that the Old Testament saints cannot obtain what God promised apart from the New Testament believers. This verse says, “Because God has provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.” At the end of the age of grace, a good number of the New Testament saints will be matured to be the overcomers. By that time the New Jerusalem will be enlarged. The New Jerusalem in the millennial kingdom is composed of all the overcomers of the Old Testament to the last overcomer of the New Testament. In order to obtain and enjoy this, the Old Testament overcomers need the New Testament overcomers to perfect them. They are waiting for us to go on that they may be made perfect.
Today God is moving in the overcomers by growing in them (Col. 2:19). He is making them mature to arrive at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13; Col. 1:28b). The maturity comes out of our growth in life. In Ephesians 4 we see that we are growing up into the Head in all things and that all the Body causes the growth of the Body (vv. 15-16). This growth comes from God’s growing in us. That growing is God’s operating, and that operating is God’s moving.
Before the three and a half years of the great tribulation, many firstfruits will be raptured to the heavenly Mount Zion, the center of the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev. 14:1-4). They take the lead to mature first among the saints. Then there will be the harvest of the majority of the believers at the end of the great tribulation (Rev. 14:14-16). Between the rapture of the firstfruits and the harvest will be the three and a half years of the great tribulation (vv. 6-13).
In between the firstfruits and the harvest, there will be another group, the late overcomers, who will be killed by Antichrist and who will stand on the glassy sea (Rev. 15:2-4). During the three and a half years of the great tribulation, Antichrist will set up his image, forcing all the people on earth to worship him (13:4, 12, 15; 2 Thes. 2:4). Whoever chooses not to worship him will be martyred. These ones are the late overcomers.
Then at the end of the tribulation, the Lord will harvest the majority of the saints. Because they did not become mature, the Lord will leave them on earth to become ripe under the suffering of the great tribulation, which will be like the parching sun. This sun will dry up the earthly waters from all the believers who are left on the earth in the great tribulation, enabling them to ripen. This is why the angel cries out that “the hour to reap has come because the harvest of the earth is ripe” (Rev. 14:15).
The believers who were not overcomers will suffer a dispensational punishment during the thousand-year kingdom. Through those thousand years, they will become mature to be included in the final consummation, the ultimate consummation, of the New Jerusalem mentioned in Revelation 21—22. The New Jerusalem is built up by God’s progressive, gradual work from Adam to the last believer of the New Testament. They all will be placed into the New Jerusalem by God’s growing and operating in them. This growing and operating is God’s moving and God’s work through the generations. All of this work is God’s history.
THE NEW JERUSALEM
IN THE NEW HEAVEN AND NEW EARTH
The New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth is the ultimate consummation which is revealed in the last two chapters of the Bible (Rev. 21:1-3, 9-23; 22:1-5).
The Eternal Habitation of God
The New Jerusalem will be the eternal habitation of God constituted with the Triune God and with God’s redeemed people (Rev. 21:3, 10-23). The holy city as the tabernacle of God is for God to dwell in, and God and the Lamb as the temple (21:22) are for the redeemed saints to dwell in. In the new heaven and new earth, the New Jerusalem will be a mutual dwelling place for God and man for eternity.
Revelation 21 tells us that the New Jerusalem is of gold as the base (v. 18). This refers to God the Father in His divine nature. Then the walls and foundations were built with precious stones, signifying the Spirit in His transforming work (vv. 18-20). Then there are the twelve pearls for twelve gates, displaying Christ in His redemptive and regenerating work (v. 21). Thus, the holy city is constituted with the Triune God.
Furthermore, the names of the twelve tribes are inscribed on the twelve gates (v. 12), signifying that the New Jerusalem includes all the redeemed saints of the Old Testament. Also, the twelve names of the twelve apostles are on the twelve foundations (v. 14), signifying that the New Jerusalem includes all of the New Testament saints. This shows that the holy city is a composition of the Triune God and His redeemed people.
The Mingling of the Processed and Consummated Triune God with
the Regenerated and Glorified Tripartite Men
The New Jerusalem is also the mingling of the processed and consummated Triune God with the regenerated and glorified tripartite men for the eternal manifestation and expression of the Triune God through His redeemed people.
The Greatest Sign in the Book of Revelation
as an Organism of the Triune God in Eternity
The holy city, New Jerusalem, is the greatest sign in the book of Revelation as the organism of the Triune God in eternity. The first sign in the book of Revelation is the golden lampstands (1:12), and the last is the New Jerusalem. Both refer to God’s building.
The Triune God’s Flow as the River of Water of Life
In the center of the city, there is the throne of God and the Lamb. From the redeeming God’s throne flows a river (Rev. 22:1). That river refers to the Spirit. God, the Lamb, and the Spirit are the Triune God’s flow as the river of the water of life to water, nourish, sustain, and maintain the entire city for eternity.
The Move of God in the Redeemed, Regenerated, Transformed,
and Glorified Humanity as the Ultimate Consummated Part
of the Move of God in Man for Eternity
In the New Jerusalem we see the move of God in the redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified humanity as the ultimate consummated part of the move of God in man for eternity, thus to be a great part of God’s history in His union with man. This is altogether the move of God in His union and in His mingling with man, so this becomes God’s history. The entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is the history of the Triune God. (The Move of God in Man, msg. 11)