John says he saw "no temple in it, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb" (21:22). This indicates that the entire city is the temple. First there is the tabernacle in Exodus. Then, after entering the good land, the children of Israel built a temple, which replaced the tabernacle. Even before the temple was built, in 1 Samuel 3:3 the tabernacle was called the temple. This means that the tabernacle and the temple actually refer to one thing. One could be taken down and moved from place to place in the wilderness; the other one had a settled location in the good land as a more permanent building.
The holy city is called the tabernacle. In the Old Testament the temple was in the city of Jerusalem, but in Revelation 21 and 22 the entire city is the tabernacle and the temple. This temple is not only God's dwelling but also the dwelling place of all His serving ones. At that time all the saints will be priests with an eternal priesthood. We will all serve Him (22:3). Our dwelling place, then, will also be the temple. The New Jerusalem is a great temple where both God and His redeemed dwell together.
"The glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb" (Rev. 21:23). "They have no need of the light of a lamp and the light of the sun, for the Lord God shall illumine them" (22:5). The glory of God as the light and the Lamb as the lamp signify that God in Christ is the light of the New Jerusalem in eternity. In the new city there is no need of the sun, the natural light, nor of any man-made lamp because God Himself will be the light and Christ will be the lamp, shining out God to enlighten the entire city. This means that God in Christ is everything in the New Jerusalem.
The throne of God and of the Lamb is the administrative center of the city. Out of it proceeds the river of water of life in the middle of the street, with the tree of life as a vine growing along its two sides (22:1-2). The street is a spiral, and the river is in the street. Since the tree of life grows along both sides of the river, it must be a vine. A tree standing up could not grow on two sides. It must therefore be a vine, growing spirally along the street. John 15 speaks of the vine tree (v. 1). Jesus is the vine tree, which is the tree of life.
In a radio broadcast a Bible teacher was asked about the tree of life. He said the tree of life was over. This is incorrect. The tree of life remains today, and it will remain forever. In Revelation 2:7 the Lord Jesus said that to the one who overcomes He "will give to eat of the tree of life." Even today this promise is being fulfilled. The tree of life which we are eating is Jesus (John 6:57). The Lord Jesus told us, on the one hand, that He is the bread of life (6:48), typified by the manna. Then, on the other hand, He told us in John 15 that He is the vine and in 14:6 that He is the life. As the vine tree and as the life He is the tree of life. The tree of life in Genesis 2:9 signifies Christ. He came to us as the reality in John 14 and 15. Still today He is the tree of life of which we may eat.
The tree of life as a vine growing along the two sides of the river signifies that God in the Lamb is the center of the New Jerusalem and supplies it with His divine life to nourish and satisfy it. The street, in which the river of water of life flows, goes down from the top of the mountain spirally to reach all twelve gates on the four sides of the city for its fellowship (22:1-2). The street is for communication; communication is fellowship. First John 1:1 and 3 shows us that out of this divine life comes the divine fellowship. The street, the river, and the tree of life are for fellowship. Today in the Lord's recovery we are in this fellowship, which is along the street with the river flowing and the tree growing.