The New Jerusalem will be the composition in a smaller scale of all the overcoming and mature saints as a reward to them in the kingdom age (Rev. 2:7b). This will include the overcomers in the Old Testament and the overcomers in this age. After the Lord Jesus comes back, these overcomers, who will be justified at the Lord’s judgment seat, will be rewarded. Their reward will be the New Jerusalem, which includes them. That stage of the New Jerusalem in the kingdom of one thousand years will be a particular portion as a reward to the overcoming and mature saints. This is strongly proven by Revelation 2:7. In this verse the Lord says, “To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” The paradise of God here refers to the New Jerusalem in the kingdom age. Furthermore, Revelation 3:12 indicates that the New Jerusalem will be a prize to the overcomers in the millennial kingdom. The New Jerusalem in the millennial kingdom will be a prize only to the overcoming saints, whereas the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth will be the common portion to all the redeemed saints for eternity.
The New Jerusalem will be the bride to marry the consummated Triune God and will then become the wife of the Lamb (Rev. 21:2, 9b). The bride in Revelation 21 is the totality of all of God’s redeemed people through the four ages of the old creation. By this time all the immature ones will be matured. Everyone will be perfected. All the redeemed people of God will be matured after the kingdom of a thousand years. They all will be the bride. The bride in the new heaven and the new earth will not be as she was in Revelation 19. She was then composed of the overcomers only. But the bride in Revelation 21 will be enlarged to include all of God’s people. This bride will be the wife of the Lamb for eternity. We must remember that the New Jerusalem is not a literal, physical city. Actually, that city will be a person—the wife of the Lamb.
The New Jerusalem will be the eternal tabernacle as God’s habitation among men (Rev. 21:3). The New Jerusalem will be a mutual habitation for both God and us.
This New Jerusalem will be the eternal temple (the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb Themselves) for God’s redeemed to worship Him within it (Rev. 21:22). The tabernacle will be the chosen people of God, and the temple will be the Triune God. We will be the tabernacle for God to dwell in, and the Triune God will be the temple for us to dwell in and worship Him.
The New Jerusalem will be the composition of all God’s chosen and redeemed people, including all the saved Israelites under God’s old covenant and all the believers of God’s new covenant, as a common portion to all God’s chosen and redeemed people in eternity (Rev. 21:12-14). As we have pointed out, the New Jerusalem in the millennium is a reward. In the new heaven and new earth, the New Jerusalem will be a common portion to all God’s chosen and redeemed people in eternity. This is proven by verses 12-14 in Revelation 21, which say that the New Jerusalem bears the names of the twelve tribes and the names of the twelve apostles. The twelve tribes represent the Old Testament saints, and the twelve apostles represent the New Testament saints. This presents a clear view that the entire New Jerusalem is a total composition of the Old Testament saints under God’s first covenant and all the New Testament saints under God’s second covenant, the new covenant.