Revelation 1:1 is the key verse to the entire book. Just this one key can open all the doors. We have the master key. We can go to any door and open it. We must pick up 1:1 as the master key. The key point is "by signs." All the pictures in this book are signs.
Fundamental teachers would surely agree that Christ as a lamb does not have four legs and a little tail. They would not make such a ridiculous interpretation. But what about the New Jerusalem? When I was young, I also believed that the New Jerusalem was a heavenly mansion. I was happy in the belief that one day we would be in a mansion. As part of our gospel preaching, we had a song about how we would enter the pearly gates and walk on the golden street. Gradually, however, as I studied the Bible I found out that the New Jerusalem is a wife. Who would marry a literal city? Even if that city had twelve gates of pearl and a golden street, would anyone marry it?
In studying and understanding the Holy Word, Christians often bring in their natural thought. In the new heaven and new earth we shall dwell in the New Jerusalem. But we must not think of the New Jerusalem as a physical city. It is God who will be our abode. When I was young, I heard some Bible teachers discussing what we would eat and where the restroom would be in the "heavenly mansion." How poor it is to bring in our natural thought!
Today I asked some saints if they are in the church. When they answered yes, I asked them to show me the church. The New Testament tells us that the church is God's house, and that God is abiding in His house; but where is the church? The church as God's house and as our home is not a physical building, but a composition of living believers (1 Pet. 2:5). It is not a physical, lifeless entity, but an organic composition of living persons. It exists wherever the believers come together. The church as God's house today is a composition of living persons; it is a corporate person. This is true in this age and it will be true in eternity.
The thought of God's house is also in the Old Testament. Moses says in Psalm 90:1, "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations."
The Lord Jesus said that if anyone loves Him, His Father and He will go to him and make an abode with him (John 14:23). We shall be His abode, and He will be our abode. In John 15 the Lord says, "Abide in Me and I in you" (v. 4). First John 3:24 and 4:16 say that we abide in God and God abides in us.
In this church age we are abiding in God, and God is abiding in us. Do you believe that when we enter into the new heaven and new earth we shall get out of God and God will get out of us? If in this age we can dwell in God, taking Him as our dwelling place, and can give God a place in us, it is not logical to think that in eternity we will no longer have Him as our dwelling place, but rather live in a golden city as our dwelling place.
We must believe that our abiding in the Lord and His abiding in us will be intensified, enlarged, and uplifted to the uttermost. This is why John says he saw that the city had no temple in it, "for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb" (Rev. 21:22). This is a strong indication that the city is not a physical place. In this city the temple is a Person. This Person is God and the Lamb. The very Triune God will be the temple. If the temple within the city is a Person, do you believe the city could be something lifeless?
Since the temple is a divine Person, the Triune God Himself, the city must be persons also. Actually the entire city is the Holy of Holies with three equal dimensions (1 Kings 6:20; Rev. 21:16). Since the Triune God will be the temple and the entire city will be the Holy of Holies, the city cannot be something physical. It must be an organic composition.
In New Testament times God's dwelling on this earth was firstly a single Person, Jesus Christ. He was God's tabernacle. Then following Him, the church is God's temple (Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Cor. 3:16). Jesus, a single Person, was God's tabernacle, His dwelling place. Then the church as a corporate person became the temple of God, God's dwelling. This is the New Testament. After the New Testament age, when we get into eternity, God's dwelling will not change from living persons to a lifeless, physical city. We must believe that these persons built together as God's dwelling place will be enlarged and intensified. In the coming age there will be an enlargement of these living persons as God's dwelling place.