Message Three—The Church Being the Mingling of Divinity with Humanity

THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE

The Mingling of Divinity with Humanity

Message Three
The Church Being the Mingling
of Divinity with Humanity

Scripture Reading: John 14:20; 15:4-5; 1 Cor. 6:17; Eph. 4:4-6, 16; Rev. 21:11-12

I. The mingling of divinity and humanity is a deep and central truth in the Scriptures—1 Cor. 6:17; John 14:20; 17:21-23:

A. The mingling of God and man is an intrinsic union of the elements of divinity and humanity to form one organic entity, yet the elements remain distinct in the union—Luke 1:35; John 1:14.

B. God’s unique purpose is to mingle Himself with us so that He becomes our life, our nature, and our content, and we become His corporate expression—John 14:20; 15:4-5; Eph. 1:5, 9; 3:11, 16-21; 4:4-6, 16.

C. The will of God is the mingling of God with man, and the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose depends on the mingling of divinity and humanity—1:5, 9; 3:11.

II. The church, as the Body of Christ, is the enlargement of Christ, who is the mingling of God and man—Luke 1:31-35; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:16:

A. The nature of the church is God mingled with man and man mingled with God; we need to understand the Body of Christ from the perspective of the mingling of divinity and humanity—3:14—4:6.

B. The church, the Body of Christ, came into being through the mingling of God with man—1 Cor. 12:12-13:

1. Formerly, this mingling involved only the Head, but the mingling has been enlarged to include the Body—Eph. 1:23.

2. In the Gospels the mingling of God and man produced the Head; in Acts the enlargement of the mingling of God and man produced the Body of Christ—Eph. 1:22-23; 4:15-16.

C. In Ephesians 4:4-6 four persons—the Body, the Spirit, the Lord, and God the Father—are actively mingled together:

1. The Father is embodied in the Son, the Son is realized as the Spirit, and the Spirit is mingled with the believers—v. 6.

2. The processed and consummated Triune God mingles Himself with His chosen people in their humanity; this mingling is the genuine oneness of the Body of Christ—v. 3; John 17:21-23.

D. The church as the Body of Christ is a group of redeemed and regenerated people who allow God to be mingled with them—Eph. 3:16-17a; 4:4-6:

1. The Body of Christ is the issue of the believers being mingled with God and constituted with Christ—1:22-23.

2. The crucial matter is whether God is mingled with us; whenever we have this mingling within us, we have some amount of the reality of the Body of Christ—3:16-17a; 4:16.

III. The Father’s house signifies God mingling Himself with His redeemed people to make them His dwelling place—John 14:2-3, 16-20, 23:

A. The Father’s house is a sign signifying the mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed people to be a dwelling place for both God and them—vv. 2-3:

1. God is dispensing Himself into His people and mingling Himself with them in order to make them such a mutual dwelling place—6:57; 7:37-39.

2. God and we, we and God, are mingled together to become one abode, a mutual abode—15:4.

B. By the Spirit and through His death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ is building the church, His Body and the Father’s house, composed of the mingling of the Triune God with His chosen and redeemed people—14:2; Rev. 21:12.

C. It is of vital importance that we see that the Father’s house is a matter of the Triune God—through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection—working Himself into His believers in order to be fully mingled with them that He may build them up as an organism for His dwelling and expression—14:2; 15:5.

D. We all need to be nourished with the truth concerning the mingling of God with us to produce a mutual dwelling place—Eph. 2:21-22.

IV. In the mingling of divinity and humanity, we may live a meal-offering church life—1 Cor. 1:2; 58:

A. The church life is a life of humanity oiled by and with the Spirit and joined to the Spirit—2:4, 12; 3:16; 6:17.

B. We need to be blended together into one Body by living the meal-offering church life—12:24; Lev. 24:

1. The flour meal offering signifies both the individual Christ and the individual Christian; the cake meal offering signifies the corporate Christ, Christ with His Body, the church—v. 4; 1 Cor. 12:12; 10:17.

2. The meal offering is a type of the blending for the fulfillment of God’s economy—Lev. 2:4; 1 Cor. 10:17; 12:24; John 12:24.

3. In order to be blended in the Body life, the meal-offering church life, we have to go through the cross and be by the Spirit, dispensing Christ to others for the sake of the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 1:23; 2:4; 6:17; 12:12-13.

C. God desires that every local church be a meal offering to satisfy Him and fully supply the saints day by day—Acts 2:46-47; 4:33.

V. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the mingling of the Triune God with the tripartite man—Rev. 21:2; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Thes. 5:23:

A. The number twelve, which represents the New Jerusalem, indicates that the New Jerusalem is the mingling of the Triune God (three) with His creature man (four)—Rev. 21:12, 14, 21; 22:2.

B. The New Jerusalem is the mingling of divinity and humanity to be the expansion, enlargement, and expression of the processed and consummated Triune God in humanity for eternity—21:11; 12:1.

C. The New Jerusalem is the mingling of the processed and consummated Triune God with His chosen, redeemed, regenerated, transformed, conformed, and glorified tripartite people; this mingling is the counterpart of Christ, a mutual dwelling place, our eternal destiny, and the ultimate manifestation of the processed and consummated Triune God for His eternal, corporate expression— 21:2-3, 9-23; 22:17.

Ministry Excerpts:

THE MINGLING OF GOD WITH MAN BEING
A DEEP, BASIC, AND CENTRAL MATTER

We need to be adjusted in our thinking. If we trace the history of the thought concerning the heavenly mansions, we will find that it comes from the teaching of Roman Catholicism based on superstition. We do believe that there is a Paradise prepared by God, but we must realize and remember well that the divine thought in the entire Scriptures is not that God is seeking a physical habitation. A physical habitation can never satisfy God. The central and divine thought of the Scriptures is that God is seeking a divine building as the mingling of Himself with humanity. He is seeking a living composition of living persons redeemed by and mingled with Himself.

After His creation, God began and is still carrying out the work of the divine building. Even today God is doing the work of the divine building, which is to mingle Himself with man. We preach the gospel not merely to win souls or save souls from hell but to minister God Himself through the Spirit to man so that God can be mingled with man. In this way we gain the materials for the divine building. Likewise, we minister Christ to the saints so that they can be mingled and built up together with Christ. This is the basic and central thought behind what we do.

To be mingled with God day by day is a deep, basic, and central matter. Husbands should love their wives, and wives should submit to their husbands, but for husbands merely to love their wives means little. The real love that is worthy before God is the love that is a mingling of Christ with the husbands. If Christ is mingled in the love of a person, there is the divine building. Some people say that Japanese wives are very submissive to their husbands. However, simply to submit to a husband means little. The submission of the wives should be something of Christ mingled with them. If there is something of Christ mingled with a wife’s submission, there is the divine building. Both the love of the husbands and the submission of the wives must be the mingling of Christ with man, that is, the divine building.

Remember well that after His work of creation, God’s work of building is to mingle Himself with man. In every spiritual experience, God must be mingled with us as the divine building. It is not sufficient to be humble or to love and submit. There must be the divine building, which is the mingling of God within. By this word we can now understand what the building of God, the house of God, and the dwelling of God are. The dwelling place of God is the mingling of God with man. This is also the building of the church. By the grace of God, may we more and more see the mingling of God with man as the real, divine building. (CWWL, 1963, vol. 3, “The Building of God,” ch. 1)

Divinity and Humanity as Two Different Natures
Being Mingled Together as One

Many years ago I was taught that our relationship with God was a matter of union and that we were united with God and joined to the Lord. However, one day as I was preaching and teaching this matter of union, the word mingling came to me. I realized that our relationship with God is not only a matter of union but also a matter of mingling, which is much deeper. The word mingled can be found in Leviticus 2, where it is used by the Holy Spirit to describe God’s desire in His relationship with man. Verse 5 says that in preparing the meal offering the oil had to be mingled with the fine flour. The oil signifies God Himself as the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:18; Heb. 1:9), and the fine flour signifies the Lord Jesus’ humanity. Thus, the oil being mingled with the fine flour signifies God being mingled with humanity. The oil and the fine flour signify divinity and humanity as two different natures being mingled together as one. However, this mingling does not produce a third nature; rather, the two natures remain distinguishable in their combination. (CWWL, 1963, vol. 1, “Experiencing the Mingling of God with Man for the Oneness of the Body of Christ,” msg. 4)

The Will of God Being the Mingling of God with Man

Since God’s will is His heart’s desire, we must learn what that desire is. It is the mingling of God with man. To mingle with man is both God’s desire and His will.

A thorough study of the Bible will help us discover the amazing fact that God in eternity planned according to His heart’s desire to attain the goal of mingling Himself with man. God in the universe has this one will: to work Himself into man and to mingle Himself with man. His creation, redemption, sanctification, and all other aspects of His work are for this one purpose. This is the one desire of His heart in the universe, it is the only goal, and it is the basic principle of all His work in the New Testament. Therefore, if we desire to know God’s will in any situation, we must first ascertain whether the situation is conducive to the mingling of Himself with us. Without this mingling, no matter how good or praiseworthy the situation may be, it is not God’s will. This is a strict measurement.

From God’s viewpoint, the aspect of God’s will as His heart’s desire is difficult for us to fathom. But from the human viewpoint, the aspect of God’s will being His mingling with man is absolutely subjective and easy to comprehend, because God mingles with us through the anointing. Whenever there is the anointing, there is also the mingling of God and the presence of God. Without the anointing it is impossible to have His mingling and His presence with man. Therefore, to understand His will, we must touch the anointing. Whenever we feel the inner anointing and the presence of God, we are in God’s will; otherwise, we are not in God’s will.

For years we have been speaking about God’s will, but somehow we have felt that it was remote and vague. Now we believe that God has given us light, that He has caused us to have a clearer insight, and that He has enabled us to present it in a more concrete manner. God’s will is now substantiated; it is no longer vague and abstract. The God we believe in is not only real and living, but He lives in us. In anything that is His will, He is in us anointing and mingling Himself, making His presence felt in us. If we can touch God inwardly in all matters, His substance is increased in us and mingled with us. Then we can be assured that this is the will of God and proceed accordingly.

Although God’s will is an extremely great matter, speaking from the standpoint of God mingling Himself with man, it is not too difficult for us to touch, and it is not unfathomable. If we can comprehend this point thoroughly, then not only can we touch His will as something lofty and deep, but we can also easily know His will. (CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” msg. 8)

THE CHURCH AS THE BODY OF CHRIST
BEING THE ENLARGEMENT OF
THE MINGLING OF GOD AND MAN

God came to the earth to be mingled with man, in the man Jesus Christ. Hence, Jesus Christ is the beginning of the mingling of God and man. This mingling made the production of the Body of Christ, which is the church, possible. Christ is the Head of the Body, the church. The church is the enlargement of the principle of God being mingled with man. This enlargement results in the Body of Christ.

The church as the Body of Christ is the enlargement of Christ, the enlargement of the mingling of God and man. It is a group of people who are mingled with God inwardly and in whom Christ has been built up. They have been mingled with God and built up to the extent that it is difficult to distinguish whether it is God or them. Their speaking and moving is God speaking and moving within them. This is the record in the book of Acts, and it is also the realization of the fullness of the One who fills all in all. Therefore, a group of believers might not express the Body of Christ if they do not have the reality of the Body of Christ. (CWWL, 1956, vol. 1, “The Church as the Body of Christ,” msg. 5)

The Nature of the Church Being
the Mingling of God with Man

The church is an entity composed of the mingling of God with man, an organism made up of the mingling of God with man. If we are acting without God, it is not the church. The church is an entity composed of the mingling of God with man. The nature of the church is God mingled with man; she is the mingling of God with man.

Whenever we have some activities in the church, regardless of whether it involves a decision, an arrangement, or a suggestion, we should always remember that God must be mingled with us, that we must be mingled with God, and that we must submit to God. We may make an arrangement, but we should be able to say, “I am mingled with God, and I live in God.” We need to pray first and ask, “O Lord, does this matter please You? Is this how You want to decide things? Is this how You want to arrange things? Is this what You want to do?” We need to continually touch the sense of the Lord’s presence within, and we need to put all our views, opinions, plans, and ideas under His feet, under the Lord Himself, and submit to His light. We should not choose according to ourselves; instead, we should choose what God chooses, suggest what God suggests, and decide what God decides. Then we will be able to see brothers moving on the earth according to the mingling of God and man.

If God finds a person on the earth and mingles Himself with him, such a one is surely in God’s move. Such a move becomes the move of the church. This is a very crucial and advanced point: the church is Christ—the mingling of God with man. (CWWL, 1953, vol. 1, “Knowing Life and the Church,” msg. 9)

The Mingling of God and Man
Producing the Head and the Body of Christ

In the Gospels the mingling of God and man produced the Head, Christ. In Acts the enlargement of the mingling of God and man produced the Body of Christ. God mingled with the man Jesus, a Galilean, and this Jesus became the Head of the Body; God also mingled with many Galileans, and they became the Body of the Head. May God enlighten us in our reading of the Bible to enable us to see that the first five books of the New Testament show a clear picture of a great person. The four Gospels show this great person, and the book of Acts shows the enlargement of this great person.

The book of Acts is a record not merely of the activities of the apostles, but it is a record of the activities of the Body of Christ on earth. We need to connect Acts with the Gospels to see a complete man, the Head and the Body. This man is a mysterious, universal man, who is God yet man and man yet God. He is also the mingling of divinity and humanity. There are many instances in these five books that show the mingling of God with man and man with God. The Gospels speak of Christ on earth; however, His Body was not yet produced. In Acts Christ as the Head is in the heavens, but the Body He produced is on earth. We need spiritual eyes to see that this great person as the Head is in the heavens and that His Body is on earth. However, the Head is not separate from the Body; rather, in this universe they are connected from the heavens to the earth and from the earth to the heavens. The book of Acts is a record of the enlargement and continuation of the mingling of God and man. Christ is not a person with a group of associates; He is the Head with a Body. (CWWL, 1956, vol. 1, “The Church as the Body of Christ,” msg. 5)

Ephesians 4 Presenting
the Real Scenery of the Body of Christ

Four Persons—
the Body, the Spirit, the Lord, and God the Father—
Forming a Unit, Which Is the Body of Christ, the Church

Ephesians 4 presents the real scenery of the Body of Christ. This group comprising four persons—the Body, the Spirit, the Lord, and God the Father—forms a unit, and this unit, this entity, is the Body of Christ, the church. The Father is embodied in the Son, the Son is realized as the Spirit, and the Spirit is mingled with the believers. This mingling is the constitution of the Body of Christ. We all have to see this. If we see this, all the problems among the saints and among the churches will be gone. All the problems can only be resolved by such a vision.

We have said that the Body of Christ, the church, is human, but it is not naturally human. The church is heavenly human. The natural humanity has been crucified, resurrected, uplifted, and mingled with the three of the Divine Trinity. We are mingled with the Spirit, possessing one hope; mingled with the Son, through faith that joins us to Him and baptism that separates us from Adam; and also mingled with the Father as the One who is over us, through us, and within us. The Body of Christ is such a mingling of humanity with divinity.

The Working Divine Trinity
Mingling Himself in a Thorough Way
with His Chosen People as the Body

God the Father, who is over all, through all, and in all, is the origin, the source, of the entire view of the Body of Christ. He is the origin of the Body. God the Son, who is the Lord and the embodiment of the Father, is the element. The Son is mingling Himself with us by faith and baptism. God the Spirit, who is the realization of God the Son, is the essence. The Spirit is being mingled with us with a hope that one day we all will be thoroughly transformed, conformed to the image of the Son, and glorified in Him. This is the working Divine Trinity mingling Himself in a thorough way with His chosen people as the Body.

This mingling has started, but it is not yet finished. It is still going on. We have ministry meetings and church meetings to be gathered together into Christ so that we can be thoroughly mingled with Him. We are not merely attending meetings in an outward sense. Behind these meetings, there is something unseen. That unseen thing is the mingling. While we are attending the meetings, we are being mingled with the Triune God. On the one hand, we are being mingled with one another, but the top mingling is the mingling of the Triune God Himself with all of us.

We surely can testify that we have more of God mingled with us in the meetings, but when we leave the meetings, we have to remain in this mingling. We need to be those who are being mingled with the Triune God all the time. This mingling solves all the problems. Two sisters may quarrel with each other because they are out of this mingling. But when they get back into this mingling, it causes them to forgive each other. Some husbands and wives may be having problems with each other. After being mingled with the Triune God in the meetings, however, their problems are resolved. The divine mingling solves all our problems. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “The Intrinsic View of the Body of Christ,” ch. 4)

THE FATHER’S HOUSE SIGNIFYING THE MINGLING
OF THE TRIUNE GOD WITH HIS REDEEMED PEOPLE
TO BE A DWELLING PLACE FOR BOTH GOD AND HIS PEOPLE

The first of the ten signs in chapters 14 through 17 of the Gospel of John is the sign of the Father’s house. We need to study the Gospel of John in order to see that the Father’s house signifies the mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed people to be a dwelling place for both God and His people.

The Father’s House Not Signifying
a Heavenly Mansion

Throughout the centuries many have held the concept that the Father’s house in John 14 refers to a heavenly mansion, a mansion in the heavens to which the believers go after they die. It is common for pastors at the funeral of a believer to comfort the relatives by saying that the one who has died has now gone to a heavenly mansion and that in this heavenly mansion he is happy. The pastor may go on to say that all believers will go to this mansion when they die.

In the Gospel of John the Father’s house does not signify a heavenly mansion. The Father’s house signifies God mingling Himself with His redeemed people to make them His house, His dwelling place. Eventually, God’s dwelling place will also become the dwelling place of His redeemed people. Praise the Lord that in the universe there is such a wonderful entity as this mutual dwelling place for God and His redeemed people! God is dispensing Himself into His people and mingling Himself with them in order to produce such a mutual dwelling place.

In chapter 1 of the Gospel of John we have the tabernacle, and in chapter 2 we have the temple. Concerning the temple, the Lord Jesus said that it was His Father’s house: “Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise” (v. 16). By this we can see that the Father’s house in chapter 2 refers to the temple. That temple was on earth; it was not a mansion in the heavens. The same term that was used to refer to the temple on earth in 2:16 is used again in 14:2: “In My Father’s house are many abodes.” It is not logical to say that the Father’s house in chapter 2 is the temple on earth and that the Father’s house in chapter 14 is a heavenly mansion.

We need to be impressed with the fact that in the Gospel of John the expression My Father’s house is used twice. In 2:16 it clearly refers to the temple on earth. What, then, does it refer to in 14:2? Here it also refers to God’s house among His people on earth; it does not refer to a heavenly mansion.

The Father’s House Being a Matter of the Triune God
Working Himself into His Believers
in Order to Be Fully Mingled with Them

The Father’s house is a mutual abode, an abode for both God and us. But if we would not be built up through Christ’s death and resurrection so that God can dwell in us, we will be short of the experience of God as our dwelling place. We need to be built up through Christ’s death and resurrection so that God can dwell in us. When we are built up in this way, we become an abode to God. When God dwells in us, He becomes our dwelling place. This is our abode. Furthermore, this means that we and God, God and we, are mingled together to become one abode, a mutual abode. God abides in us, and we abide in God—a mutual abiding. This is the thought of the Gospel of John. Therefore, the Father’s house is a sign signifying the mingling of God with His people. (CWWL, 1982, vol. 2, “The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John,” msg. 37)

The first stage of this house was God incarnate, God manifested in the flesh. The second stage is Christ resurrected with all His believers, the many sons built up together to be the church. Eventually, this church, the second stage of the Father’s house, will consummate in the coming New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem will be the ultimate consummation, the last stage, of the Father’s house in the New Testament. Today we are neither in the first stage nor in the third but in the second. As those who are in the second stage, we are on our way to the third stage.

It is of vital importance that we see what the Father’s house is. The Father’s house is a matter of the Triune God—through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection—working Himself into His believers in order to be fully mingled with them that He may build them up as an organism for His dwelling place and expression. This is also for their dwelling place. Therefore, the sign of the Father’s house points to the mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed people to produce a mutual dwelling place, a dwelling place for both God and His chosen and redeemed people. (CWWL, 1982, vol. 2, “The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John,” msg. 38)

THE WAY TO HAVE A MEAL OFFERING CHURCH LIFE—
FINE FLOUR MINGLED WITH OIL

In Leviticus 2 we see that the meal offering can be in different forms. Our concern here is with two particular forms of the meal offering. The meal offering may be in the form of flour mingled with oil, or it may be in the form of a cake. The flour meal offering signifies the individual Christ; it also signifies the individual Christian. The cake meal offering signifies the corporate Christ, Christ with His Body, the church. The New Testament reveals that the individual Christ has become the corporate Christ (1 Cor. 12:12) signified by the cake. Paul says, “We who are many are one bread, one Body; for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor. 10:17). This one bread is a “cake.”

With the meal offering there is the individual aspect, and there is also the corporate aspect. Today Christ does not live merely in an individual way; He also lives with His Body, the church. Christ lives before God in a corporate way. He is the Head, and He has His Body with its members. Therefore, with the meal offering in the form of a cake we have the church life.

In order to have a cake meal offering, we need fine flour mingled with oil. The mingling of flour and oil will produce dough. The dough is then baked in an oven and becomes a cake. This cake is a symbol of the church life. This symbol indicates that eventually Christ’s life and our individual Christian life become a totality, and this totality is the church life.

Needing to Be Oiled Persons,
Those Who Are Oiled by the Spirit and with the Spirit

The church life is not an angelic life but a life full of humanity. However, some Christians have been told that they should try to be like angels and no longer live like human beings. This concept is altogether wrong. If we would have more church life, we need more humanity. For the church life we need to be very human. But this humanity should not be separate from the Holy Spirit; rather, it should be a humanity which is mingled with the Holy Spirit and which has the Holy Spirit poured upon it. In other words, for the church life we need to be oiled persons, those who are oiled by the Spirit and with the Spirit. Furthermore, we should not have leaven or honey, but we should have salt and frankincense. In our life much salt, the death of the cross, should be applied, and we should be full of resurrection. This is the proper church life.

If we would have this kind of church life, we must be full of humanity and live like men, not like angels. However, certain sisters, and even some brothers, are trying to live as if they were angels. These saints are peculiar and lacking in humanity. The more you try to be an angel, the more peculiar you will be. Instead of being human, you will be a “ghost.” Therefore, I say again that in the church life we need to be full of humanity, but not with a humanity that is independent of the Holy Spirit.

We should be fully dependent on the Holy Spirit, being oiled with Him inwardly and having Him poured upon us outwardly. If we are such persons, we will be full of the Spirit. We will be centered on the Spirit and possessed by the Spirit. We will also live a life that is through salt and in frankincense, that is, a life that is through the death of Christ and in His resurrection. The salt will deal with the leaven, with the germs of sin; the salt will also deal with the honey, putting the natural life to death. This is the way to have a meal offering church life.

Every Local Church Being a Meal Offering
That Satisfies God and That Fully Supplies
the Saints Day by Day

God wants to have a meal offering in every locality. He desires that every local church be a meal offering that satisfies Him and that fully supplies the saints day by day.

The whole church life is a meal offering. In this meal offering the top portion is for God’s enjoyment, and the remainder is for us to take as our daily food in our service to God. We, therefore, are a meal offering as food for God’s satisfaction and for the nourishment of others.

Our hunger is satisfied not only by Christ but also by the church life. The church life satisfies us because the church life is a corporate meal offering, with the top portion for God and the remainder for us. Therefore, we are fed by and with the church life. The church life is the meal offering to be our daily supply. Hallelujah for the meal offering church life! (Life-study of Leviticus, msg. 16)

THE NEW JERUSALEM AS THE ULTIMATE CONSUMMATION
OF THE MINGLING OF DIVINITY WITH HUMANITY

After the church, God’s building becomes the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2). Noah’s ark, the tabernacle, the temple, Christ, the church, and the New Jerusalem are all God’s building. However, these are all different aspects of one building, not many buildings. In the New Jerusalem we can find items related to Noah’s ark, to the tabernacle of Moses, and to Solomon’s temple with the old Jerusalem. We can certainly see Christ as the house and temple of God, and we can also see the church. Therefore, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate expression and consummation of God’s building.

The New Jerusalem Being a Living Composition
of All the Redeemed Ones,
a Universally Great Corporate Man Mingled with God
to Be a Living Body and a Built-up City

The New Jerusalem contains the names of the twelve tribes of Israel and the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (vv. 12, 14). The twelve tribes of Israel are the representatives of the Old Testament saints, and the twelve apostles are the representatives of the New Testament saints. This shows us that the New Jerusalem is a living composition of all the saints in the Old and New Testament times.

Moreover, God is the light of the New Jerusalem, and Christ is the lamp (v. 23). God is in Christ, and out of God in Christ flows the Spirit as the river of water of life (22:1). God the Father is the light, God the Son is the lamp, and God the Spirit is the river of living water. From the throne of God and the Redeemer at the center, the Triune God flows throughout the entire city for the mingling of God with His creatures. This is the real meaning of the building of God. Therefore, the New Jerusalem is a living composition of all the redeemed ones throughout the generations with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit as the center. It is a universally great corporate man mingled with God to be a living Body and a built-up city.

The New Jerusalem Being a Full Picture
of the Mingling of the Triune God
with His Redeemed Creatures

The New Jerusalem is a full picture of the mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed creatures, the mingling of divinity with humanity. Now God is no longer merely a God outside of man. He is a God within man.

Certain hymns contain the thought that God is a God in heaven and that someday we will go to heaven. Do not think that I do not believe that there is a heaven. I certainly believe that there is a heaven and that God is in the heavens, but heaven where God is now is not the eternal habitation of God. We can prove this with Revelation 21:2, which says, “I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” In eternity God will dwell in the New Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven. We may have the thought to go to heaven, but God has the thought to come down from heaven. The habitation of God in eternity is His divine building, the New Jerusalem, the mingling of divinity with humanity. (CWWL, 1963, vol. 3, “The Building of God,” ch. 1)