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Message One

The Divine Revelation Concerning the Garden of Eden

and the Divine Revelation Concerning the New Jerusalem

Reflecting Each Other

Gen. 2:9-12 And out of the ground Jehovah God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, as well as the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And a river went forth from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four branches. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that goes around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.

Rev. 22:1-2 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. And on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

The divine revelation concerning the garden of Eden, created by the eternal Triune God, and the divine revelation concerning the New Jerusalem, built by the processed and consummated Triune God, reflect each other.

The Revelation Concerning the Garden of Eden,

as the Beginning of the Divine Revelation in the Holy Scripture

The revelation concerning the garden of Eden, as the beginning of the divine revelation in the Holy Scripture, contains four matters (Gen. 2:8-14, 18-24). First, there is the tree of life as the center of God’s eternal economy (v. 9a). Second, verses 10 through 14 speak of a river flowing into four heads to reach the four directions of the earth. Third, at the flow of the river are three kinds of precious materials: gold, pearl, and onyx (vv. 11-12). Here these materials are scattered and not yet builded together. Fourth, there is a couple, signifying Christ and the church (vv. 18-24; Eph. 5:22-29, 32). The wife came out of the husband (signifying Christ) as a part (a rib, signifying the resurrection life of Christ) of him taken out of him in his sleep (signifying the death of Christ) by God, which part God built into a woman (signifying the church)—Gen. 2:21-22a. Then God brought the woman to the man and made her one flesh with him as her husband to be his counterpart as his increase and expression (vv. 22b-24; John 3:29a, 30; Eph. 1:23)

The Revelation Concerning the New Jerusalem,

as the Ending of the Divine Revelation in the Holy Scripture

The revelation concerning the New Jerusalem, as the ending of the divine revelation in the Holy Scripture, also contains four matters (Rev. 21:1-22:2). First, there is the tree of life as the center of God’s eternal economy (22:2). Second, according to 22:1 a river of water of life flows to reach the four directions of the earth (cf. 21:13). Third, there are three kinds of precious materials: gold, pearls, and precious stones. These materials are built together into a city, the city of New Jerusalem, by the processed and consummated Triune God (21:18-21). Fourth, the entire city is a couple. The processed and consummated redeeming Triune God in Christ is the Husband. The chosen and redeemed people of the redeeming Triune God are the wife…as His enlargement and expression in eternity (vv. 2, 9; Eph. 1:23; 3:19)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The God-Men,” ch. 4

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Message Two

The New Jerusalem Being a Sign，a Symbol

Rev. 1:1 The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him to show to His slaves the things that must quickly take place; and He made it known by signs, sending it by His angel to His slave John

Rev. 21:2 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 Being a Sign

First, we must realize that the first verse of the book of Revelation tells us how this book was written: “The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him to show to His slaves what must swiftly take place; and He made it known by signs” (Rev. 1:1). This verse tells us that the Lord Jesus made this God-given revelation known to us by signs. It would help us to circle, color, or underline the word “signs” in this verse. The Lord Jesus made this revelation known to us by signs. The word signs is the key word to interpret the entire book of Revelation. Revelation is a book of signs. Every number in the book of Revelation is a sign.

Every number in the book of Revelation is a sign. Seven is a sign, four is a sign, twelve is a sign, and ten is a sign. The lampstands (1:11-13, 20) are signs. The Lamb who was slain (5:6) is a sign. The lion (5:5) is a sign. The seven stars (1:16, 20) are signs…The firstfruit in Revelation 14:4 is a sign which signifies the living overcomers among God’s living people…Then in chapter seventeen we see a great prostitute (v. 1), Babylon the Great (v. 5)…I hope we can see all the signs in this book. What is the last sign, then, of this book of signs? The last sign of this book, which is made known to us mainly by signs, is the New Jerusalem.

We have seen that the book of Revelation was written in the way of signs. If you say that the last sign, the New Jerusalem, is a physical, real city, then what about the lampstands as the first sign in this book? Are the seven stars in chapter one real stars? And what about the Lamb? Do you believe Christ as the Lamb of God is an actual lamb with four legs and a little tail? Is the lion of the tribe of Judah a real lion like one at the zoo? It is not logical to interpret these signs in the book of Revelation in this way. The New Jerusalem is a sign. It is not a genuine, real, physical city. The great Babylon is also a sign of the false church. The great Babylon and the New Jerusalem are two signs at the end of the book of Revelation. One city is a sign of the false church and the other city, the holy city, signifies the ultimate consummation of the pure church. The great Babylon is called the great prostitute. The New Jerusalem is called the wife of the Lamb. Since Revelation is a book written with signs, the New Jerusalem could not be an exception; it must be a sign.

The New Jerusalem Being a Figure,

Signifying an Organic Constitution

The New Jerusalem is a city, but this city is not literally physical. It is a sign, a figure, signifying an organic constitution. It is not something organized, but something constituted organically. The holy city is a constitution in life of the processed Triune God mingled with His regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite elect.

Further Reading: CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord’s Recovery,” ch. 5; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The Application of the Interpretation of the New Jerusalem to the Seeking Believers,” msg. 1

THE GOSPEL OF GOD’S ECONOMY

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THE NEW JERUSALEM

Message Three

The New Jerusalem Being Not a Physical City

Rev. 21:2 And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Rev. 21:16 And the city lies square, and its length is as great as the breadth. And he measured the city with the reed to a length of twelve thousand stadia; the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.

Rev. 21:18 And the building work of its wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.

The New Jerusalem Being Not a Physical City

Christ is a person, and He will marry the New Jerusalem. It is impossible for Christ to marry a physical city as His wife. This is a strong proof that the New Jerusalem is not a physical city. Here, to be adorned is to make oneself pretty. This term can be applied only to females. Only females need adornment. The New Jerusalem as the bride of Christ needs to be not only consummated but also adorned (v. 19). Today we need to adorn and consummate the New Jerusalem with God the Father as its golden base, God the Son as its pearl gates, and God the Spirit as its wall of precious stones. The New Jerusalem is adorned with pure gold, pearl, and precious stones, that is, with the Triune God as the elements. This is the consummated Divine Trinity constituting Himself into our being to make us gold, pearl, and precious stones so that He may have an enlargement for His eternal expression, the New Jerusalem.

The Second Reason That We Could Not Say

That the New Jerusalem Is a Physical Mansion or a Physical City

Being That It Is Altogether Not Logical to Say This

The second reason that we could not say that the New Jerusalem is a physical mansion or a physical city for God’s redeemed people to lodge in is that it is altogether not logical to say this. The New Jerusalem, the holy city, is a golden mountain (Rev. 21:16, 18). This mountain is twelve thousand stadia in three dimensions. The length, the breadth, and the height of the city are twelve thousand stadia (v. 16). Twelve thousand stadia is about thirteen-hundred and fifty miles, the approximate distance from New York to Dallas. Such a high mountain has only one street which goes down spirally from the top of the mountain to reach all the twelve gates on the four sides of the city. If this is a real city to lodge in, we must ask how all God’s redeemed through all the centuries will be able to lodge there. How could so many people live in a city with only one main spiral street? How could these people travel in a city with only one main street?

The New Jerusalem is a sign. It is not a genuine, real, physical city. The great Babylon is also a sign of the false church. The great Babylon and the New Jerusalem are two signs at the end of the book of Revelation. One city is a sign of the false church and the other city, the holy city, signifies the ultimate consummation of the pure church. The great Babylon is called the great prostitute. The New Jerusalem is called the wife of the Lamb. Since Revelation is a book written with signs, the New Jerusalem could not be an exception; it must be a sign.

Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 428; CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord’s Recovery,” ch. 5

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Message Four

The New Jerusalem Being the Eternal Bethel

Gen. 28:17-19 And he was afraid and said, How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head, and he set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz previously.

Bethel, Which Is God’s Dwelling Place on Earth,

This Dwelling Place Being the Church Today

In Genesis 28:16-17 Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” Jacob’s calling that place the house of God must have been the result of a revelation from God. This indicates that Christ, as the ladder set up on the earth and reaching to heaven, keeps heaven open to earth and joins earth to heaven for the producing of the house of God, Bethel, which is God’s dwelling place on earth. Today this dwelling place is the church (Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Tim. 3:15)

Genesis 28:18-19 goes on to say, “And Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head, and he set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel.” And he vowed a vow to God, saying, “This stone, which I have set as a pillar, will be God’s house” (v. 22). First, he made the stone his pillow. Next, he set the stone up for a pillar. The pillow is for man’s rest, and the pillar is for God’s building. Jacob’s making the pillow-stone a pillar signifies that, first, Christ is the stone as the lodging for the wandering believers, and then He is the material for the building of God’s dwelling place on the earth. He is a living stone, and those who draw near to Him also become living stones to be material for God’s building (1 Pet. 2:4-5)

Jacob poured oil on the stone and made it Bethel, the house of God. Here oil signifies the Spirit as the ultimate expression of the Triune God for reaching people. The stone signifies a transformed believer. Thus, the stone which was set up as a pillar and which had the oil poured upon it, symbolizes that the transformed believers are one with the Triune God so that they become the house of God. In John chapter one we see also that prior to the mentioning of Christ, the heavenly ladder, as the fulfillment of Jacob’s dream (v. 51), there is the mentioning of the outpouring of the Spirit (v. 33) and the stone for building (v. 42)

The New Jerusalem Being God’s Eternal Dwelling Place

in the New Heaven and New Earth Eventually

Jacob’s dream was fulfilled first when the children of Israel erected the tabernacle in the wilderness after their being delivered out of Egypt; that was God’s first house among men. Later, when the children of Israel built the temple in the good land, God had a more solid house on the earth. In the New Testament the church is the house of God. Eventually, in the new heaven and new earth the New Jerusalem will be God’s eternal dwelling place (Rev. 22:1-3), where God and we, we and God, will enjoy eternal rest and satisfaction. Today we are in the fulfillment of Jacob’s dream.

Further Reading: Truth Lessons, Level 3, Vol. 1, lsn. 9

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Message Five

The New Jerusalem Being a Mutual Dwelling Place for God and Man

Rev. 21:3 And I heard a loud voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them, and they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.

Rev. 21:22 And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

The New Jerusalem Being the Tabernacle for God’s Dwelling

and the Temple for Our Dwelling

The Triune God is our temple, and we are His tabernacle. He dwells in us, and we dwell in Him, and this mutual dwelling is the New Jerusalem, which to God is the tabernacle and to us is the temple. We enjoy a foretaste of this today when we abide in the Lord and the Lord abides in us (John 15:5). John 14:23 says that the Father and the Son will come to the one who loves the Son and make an abode, a dwelling place, with him. This dwelling place will be a mutual abode for the Father with the Son and the Son’s lover. This mutual abode will be enlarged in eternity to be the New Jerusalem where God will be our dwelling place, and we will be His dwelling place.

God’s Taking Us as His Dwelling Place

and Giving Himself to Us to Be Our Dwelling Place

Indicating the Mingling of Divinity with Humanity,

in Which Both Humanity and Divinity Became a Mutual Abode

The New Jerusalem has two natures, humanity and divinity. According to its humanity, the New Jerusalem is the tabernacle of God among men, the dwelling place of God in His humanity among men on the earth (Rev. 21:3). In the Bible the tabernacle is a human dwelling place. Likewise, the New Jerusalem is a human dwelling place because it is constituted with humanity. John 1:14 says that God was incarnated in the flesh to tabernacle among men. He is God, but He has become a man. He partook of humanity as His nature; hence, He dwells in humanity.

The tabernacle is built mostly with the humanity of God’s people to be God’s dwelling place, whereas the temple is built mostly of divinity to be the dwelling place of God’s redeemed. This indicates that God takes us as His dwelling place and gives Himself to us to be our dwelling place. The divine God lives in a human tabernacle, and redeemed man lives in a divine dwelling place. This indicates the mingling of divinity with humanity, in which both humanity and divinity became a mutual abode. Concerning God and His redeemed in the New Jerusalem, a new hymn says, “As man yet God they coinhere, / A mutual dwelling place to be.” The New Jerusalem as the tabernacle of God indicates that the redeemed of God are the dwelling place of God, and the redeeming God as the temple indicates that God is the dwelling place for His serving ones.

Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 430

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THE NEW JERUSALEM

Message Six

The New Jerusalem Being the Consummate Shulammite

S. S. 6:13 Return, return, O Shulammite; Return, return, that we may gaze at you. Why should you gaze at the Shulammite, As upon the dance of two camps?

The New Jerusalem Being the Real and Consummate Shulammite

In Song of Songs the seeker passes through a process to become the Shulammite, the duplication of Solomon and a figure of the New Jerusalem (6:13, 4). The lover’s name, Shulammite, which is the feminine form of Solomon, is first used in Song of Songs 6:13, indicating that at this point she has become Solomon’s duplication and counterpart, the same as Solomon in life, nature, and image, as Eve to Adam (Gen. 2:20-23). This signifies that the lover of Christ becomes the same as He is in life, nature, and image to match Him (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29) for their marriage. The lover of Solomon, having passed through various stages of transformation, has become Solomon’s duplication. The New Jerusalem will be a corporate Shulammite, including all of God’s chosen and redeemed people.

In the New Jerusalem the redeeming God (signified by Solomon) and all His redeemed (signified by the Shulammite) become one. The New Jerusalem is a mingling of divinity and humanity to express the processed and consummated Triune God in human virtues. Christ and His wife will be joined together to be the New Jerusalem for God’s expression; this is the consummated Shulammite. The New Jerusalem is the real and consummate Shulammite.

The Shulammite Being a Figure of Us as the Reproduction

of Christ, Who Is the Embodiment of God

Ultimately, we will be conformed to be the wonderful Shulammite, who, as the duplication of Solomon, is the greatest and ultimate figure of the New Jerusalem as the counterpart of Christ. Just as King Solomon became a country man to court a country girl in order to make her his queen, his duplication, God in Christ became a man to court man in order to make man God in life, nature, expression, and function but not in the Godhead, to be Christ’s bride (Matt. 9:15; Rev. 19:7; cf. Psa. 45:1-3, 9, 13-14). The Bible reveals that God became a man to court us and that now He wants us to court Him by our becoming divine for His expression through our personal, affectionate, private, and spiritual relationship with Him (S. S. 1:1-8; 2 Cor. 2:10; Exo. 33:11; Rom. 8:4, 6; 1 Cor. 2:15). The Shulammite is a figure of us as the reproduction of Christ, who is the embodiment of God. Thus, the many lovers of Christ eventually will become duplications of God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. This is the fulfillment of God becoming a man that man might become God, which is the high peak of the divine revelation. The corporate overcomer, the Shulammite, who is the duplication of Solomon, is a figure of the New Jerusalem.

Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 428

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Message Seven

The New Jerusalem Being the Bride of Christ

Rev. 21:9-10 And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, Come here; I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. 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.

The Subject of the Bible Being a Divine Romance

of a Universal Couple

The subject of the Bible is a divine romance of a universal couple; the male is God Himself, and the female is God’s chosen and redeemed people (Gen. 2:21-24; Isa. 54:5; Jer. 2:2; 3:14; 31:32; Ezek. 23:5; Hosea 2:7, 19; Matt. 9:15; John 3:29). In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, 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) and 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). The spouse is for His satisfaction in love. As the bride of Christ, the 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.…Christ’s betrothal and marriage life cover the church age, the kingdom age, and the eternal age. In the church age we are betrothed to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2). The wedding day will be the age of the millennial kingdom (Rev. 19:7). The marriage life will be in the New Jerusalem for eternity (21:2, 9-10)

The New Jerusalem Being a Couple, a Wife and a Husband

in Its Humanity and in Its Divinity

According to its humanity, the New Jerusalem is the human wife (with the divine life and nature) of the Lamb, the redeeming God (vv. 2, 9). This human wife can marry a divine person because she has the divine life and nature. This qualifies her to match the redeeming God. On the one hand, she is human; on the other hand, she is divine. Because she is human, she can be the redeeming God’s human wife. Because she is divine, she can marry Him, a divine person.

According to its divinity, the New Jerusalem is the divine Husband (the redeeming God in His consummated embodiment, Christ, with the human life and nature) of God’s redeemed elect. The wife is human, and the Husband is divine. A human wife can marry a divine person because she has the divine person’s nature and life.

The same entity can be both a husband and a wife because the New Jerusalem is divine. The divine God is a part of its constituent. Therefore, on the one hand, it is a wife; on the other hand, it is a husband. The New Jerusalem is the wife according to its humanity and the Husband according to its divinity. But as the divine Husband, the New Jerusalem has the human life and nature. In its humanity and in its divinity it is a couple, a wife and a husband.

Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 428

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Message Eight

The New Jerusalem Being a Universal Golden Lampstand

Exo. 25:31-32 And you shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand with its base and its shaft shall be made of beaten work; its cups, its calyxes, and its blossom buds shall be of one piece with it. And there shall be six branches going out of its sides; three branches of the lampstand out of one of its sides, and three branches of the lampstand out of its other side.

Rev. 21:23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

The New Jerusalem, the Aggregate of All the Lampstands,

Being a Consummate, Universal Golden Lampstand

The churches as golden lampstands will be consummated in the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem, the holy city, is the aggregate of all the lampstands. If we consider the facts that the New Jerusalem is a golden city (Rev. 21:18b), that it has one street which reaches all twelve gates (Rev. 21:21; 22:2), that the wall of the city is one hundred forty-four cubits high (21:17), and that the city itself is twelve thousand stadia high (21:16), we shall realize that the city proper must be a mountain. On top of this mountain is a throne, from which the street spirals down to the bottom to reach the twelve gates. On top of this golden mountain is the throne as the center. On the throne is Christ as the Lamb with God in Him (22:1). This Lamb is the lamp with God in Him as the light (21:23; 22:5)

This golden mountain is a stand, and upon this stand is a lamp. Therefore, this golden mountain-the New Jerusalem-is a golden lampstand. As a golden lampstand, it has Christ as the lamp with God in Him as the light shining out for eternity. Thus, the New Jerusalem, the aggregate of all the lampstands, the totality of today’s lampstands, is a consummate, universal golden lampstand to shine forth God’s glory in the new heaven and new earth for eternity.

The New Jerusalem Expressing the Processed Triune God

in Eternity as the Consummation of the Golden Lampstands

The New Jerusalem is a mountain of gold. As a golden mountain, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate, unique, and eternal golden lampstand, absolutely composed of God’s nature. If we see the vision of the New Jerusalem built with the nature of God, we shall renounce everything that does not belong to God’s nature and reject anything that does not match it.…In the New Jerusalem Christ, as the lamp of the holy city, will shine with God within as the light to illumine the city with the glory of God, the expression of the divine light. Because such a light will illumine the holy city, it will not need any other light, whether created by God or made by man (Rev. 22:5). Christ, the lamp, will shine with God as the light.…The New Jerusalem will also bear the Spirit’s expression. Revelation 21:11b says, “Her light was like a most precious stone, as a jasper stone, clear as crystal.” Jasper, a precious stone, signifies the expression of the Spirit in His transforming work with all the unsearchable riches of Christ. Likewise, the other precious stones in the New Jerusalem signify that the city bears the Spirit’s expression.…Therefore, the New Jerusalem will be the triune expression of the processed Triune God-the expression of the Father as the source, the Son as the embodiment, and the Spirit as the realization and transmission.

Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 220

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Message Nine

The New Jerusalem Being the Glory of God

Rev. 21:10-11 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. Having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.

The Holy City Having the Glory of God Which Is God Expressed

According to Revelation 21:11, the holy city has the glory of God. Here the glory of God is the expression of God, God expressed. When God is manifested, that is glory. We have been ordained for this glory and called to this glory (1 Cor. 2:7; 1 Pet. 5:10; 1 Thes. 2:12). We are being transformed into this glory (2 Cor. 3:18), and we will be brought into it (Heb. 2:10). Eventually, we will be glorified with Christ (Rom. 8:17, 30) to bear the glory of God for God’s expression in the New Jerusalem. In the holy city both the lamp and the light refer to God’s glory.

The whole city of New Jerusalem is God. The light is God, its glory is the expression of God, and its appearance is God Himself revealed to the nations. All of this should be found in the church life today. The church is God’s temple. God Himself in the church is our dwelling place, and He is also the light that shines out through us to our neighbors. This shining out is also the glory and appearance of the church. This is the church life.

When God completely finishes His work in the church, it will be a transparent city. All the gold in the New Jerusalem is transparent, transmitting the effulgence of God, so that by its light all things may arrive at the oneness. The light effaces death in all things and heads up all things. The city diffuses the light, shining upon the nations (Rev. 21:24)

The Entire Eternal Kingdom of God

Being under the Shining of God’s Glory

Revelation 21:24 tells us that the nations will walk by the light of the shining from the New Jerusalem. Even after the millennium the nations will live on the new earth as the peoples (vv. 3-4). These nations will have kings, who will bring their glory into the city. In eternity we the redeemed ones will be the royal family ruling over the nations.

The nations will walk by the light of the New Jerusalem, an organic building. Thus, the entire eternal kingdom of God will be under the shining of God’s glory in the Redeemer through the redeemed as the diffuser. The eternal kingdom of God includes the New Jerusalem and the nations around it. The redeemed who constitute the New Jerusalem are the kings to reign, and the nations around the New Jerusalem are the subjects.

In their relationship with God, the subjects will walk in the light of the New Jerusalem (v. 24a). For their human affairs they will live under the light of the sun created by God and the lamp made by man, but in matters related to God the nations as the subjects will walk in the divine light.

Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 436

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Message Ten

Becoming the New Jerusalem

Rev. 21:2 And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Not Entering into the New Jerusalem;

But Becoming the New Jerusalem

John also wrote the book of Revelation, which begins with the shining lampstands (1:12) and ends with a call to drink the living water (22:17). The drinking’s issue is the New Jerusalem. The writings of John cover the span from God to the New Jerusalem. Eventually, the triune, eternal God becomes the New Jerusalem incorporated with all of us. We do not enter into the New Jerusalem; we become the New Jerusalem. Our becoming is our entering in. This is the intrinsic interpretation of John’s writings in his Gospel and Revelation.

The Ultimate Consummation of God’s Complete Salvation

Being the New Jerusalem

The organic aspect of God’s salvation is through the life of God (Rom. 1:17b; Acts 11:18; Rom. 5:10b, 17b, 18b, 21b). Whereas the judicial aspect is according to the righteousness of God to accomplish God’s redemption, the organic aspect is through the life of God to carry out God’s salvation, including regeneration, shepherding, dispositional sanctification, renewing, transformation, building up, conformation, and glorification. This is the purpose of God’s salvation to accomplish all that God wants to achieve in the believers in His economy through His divine life.

God’s organic work is from regeneration to glorification, from God’s entering into man to man’s practically being brought into God. Regeneration is God entering into man, whereas glorification is man entering into God. Thus, man is altogether mingled and joined with God to express the image of God. That is glorification. The ultimate consummation of God’s complete salvation is the New Jerusalem—the crystallization of the union and mingling of God with man, the processed and consummated Triune God with His regenerated, transformed, conformed, and glorified tripartite elect.

Doing Only One Work to Make God’s Chosen People

the Beings of the New Jerusalem

The co-workers must see that we should do only one work, which is to make God’s chosen people regenerated ones, sanctified ones, renewed ones—the new man, transformed ones, conformed ones—those conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God, and glorified ones. All those who will be in the New Jerusalem are this kind of people.…Specifically, God proceeds step by step to make a chosen one of God a person who is regenerated, sanctified, renewed, transformed, conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God, and even glorified by God. In this way we go up level by level until we reach the highest point, where we become the same. There is no more flesh and no more natural being. All are in the spirit. All are in the kingdom of the heavens, and all are beings of the New Jerusalem. This is the highest point.

Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” msg. 16; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The Organic Aspect of God’s Salvation,” msg. 1, msg. 5