In this message we will make a great turn. We have just turned from the covenant of Abraham to the covenant of law, and again from the covenant of law to the new covenant, showing that the new covenant is the continuation of the covenant of Abraham. That was only a small turn. Now we will make a great turn. I would like to make it as simple as possible, so I will speak on it point by point.
The first point is that the Lord became flesh and tabernacled among us. The Lord in the flesh was a tabernacle. From God’s point of view, the Lord’s incarnation was His coming to the earth to set up a tabernacle for Him to have a dwelling place.
Second, for what purpose did the incarnated Lord come to the earth? The Bible says that He came to be the Bridegroom to marry His bride. The Gospel of John shows us that when John the Baptist was on earth, his disciples saw that many who were following him turned to follow the Lord Jesus, so they became resentful and went and told him. He then said, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom” (John 3:29a). His meaning was, “I am not the bridegroom. I do not have the bride. He has the bride. It is right for people to follow Him; they should not follow me. I am just the friend of the bridegroom. I stand here, and seeing Him, I rejoice” (vv. 26-29). We know that John the Baptist testified twice for the Lord Jesus. One time he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (1:29). The other time he said, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom.” The Lord became flesh and tabernacled among us, and this One was the Bridegroom who came for the bride.
Who is the bride, and when will the Lord marry the bride? For this we need to go to Revelation. John wrote not only the Gospel of John and the Epistles of John; he also wrote Revelation. If you cannot find the answers after you have read his Gospel and his Epistles, you can still read his Revelation. You find a little hint when you come to Revelation 19. Here we find the declaration: “The marriage of the Lamb has come” (v. 7). This is a story of marriage—the Lamb is getting married. In the beginning of his Gospel, John speaks of the Lamb and the Bridegroom, and now in Revelation he says that the marriage of the Lamb has come. This means that the Lamb as the Bridegroom is marrying the bride.
Whom is He marrying? Revelation 19 says that the bride is clothed in fine linen, bright and clean, which is the righteousnesses of the saints (v. 8). From this you can understand that the bride He is marrying is composed of the saints redeemed by God. This is still not clear enough. When you come to chapter twenty-one, you see that it says, “I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (v. 2). Then it says that the city which came down out of heaven is the tabernacle of God with men (v. 3). So you see that the bride, the wife, of the Lamb is a city. The New Jerusalem is the bride, the wife, of the Lamb.
Brothers and sisters, who is the bride? On the one hand, since the bride is a city, she is a corporate person composed of all the saved ones, the saints. On the other hand, this bride is also the tabernacle God built among men, which in principle is the same as the tabernacle God pitched in His incarnation. Please pay attention to the turn here. It is not merely a turn but a circular three-hundred-sixty-degree turn, from pitching a tabernacle to pitching a tabernacle. God became a man and tabernacled among men. This tabernacling God is the Bridegroom, and the bride He is marrying is a composition of the saved ones. This bride is also a city, and this city is the tabernacle God pitched among men.
Since it is a city coming down out of heaven, the city of New Jerusalem, the bride, is heavenly. Hebrews 11 and 12 also speak of this city. Chapter eleven says that in the Old Testament times, those to whom the promise was made, such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all longed after this city (v. 16). Why did they long after this city? It is because they felt that they were strangers on the earth, wanderers without a home. Even though in his lifetime Abraham did have a place to live on the earth, and so did Isaac and Jacob, according to their feeling they were only strangers and sojourners on the earth; the earth was not their own country. Therefore, they eagerly waited for the city which has the foundations. I do not know whether Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob realized what that city was, but the Holy Spirit made them feel that they had no dwelling place on earth and that the earth was not their own country. They were strangers on the earth, so they longed after a heavenly country, which is the city whose Architect and Builder is God.
Now I would like to ask you brothers and sisters, “What exactly is the city that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob longed after?” At their time they might not have been clear. They simply felt that the earth was not their dwelling place but merely a place where they wandered and sojourned. Therefore, they longed after an eternal country, a heavenly one, whose Architect and Builder is God. However, today we are the saints of the New Testament age and we have been instructed. Therefore, we should be much clearer than they were. Today we know that the city they longed after is the city of New Jerusalem.
What then is the city of New Jerusalem? It is the bride, the wife, of the Lamb. What is the bride, the wife, of the Lamb? She is a group of people redeemed by the Lord, a group of people who are mingled with God as one to become God’s tabernacle. What is this tabernacle? It is the very God who tabernacled among men by putting on humanity, entering into humanity, and being mingled with humanity. This is the country that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob longed after, which is also their eternal dwelling place. In one sense, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have not entered into it, because Hebrews 11 clearly says, “And these all, having obtained a good testimony through their faith, did not obtain the promise, because God has provided something better for us [that is, for those who are saved in the New Testament age], so that apart from us they [that is, those who were saved in the Old Testament age] would not be made perfect” (vv. 39-40). These are all descriptions of a spiritual mystery which we cannot fully comprehend with our mind at this time.
The end of Revelation says that the time has come; that is, the bride, the holy city, has come. The bride includes all those who were saved in the Old Testament and all those who are saved in the New Testament. This is indicated by the gates and walls of the New Jerusalem being inscribed with the names of the twelve New Testament apostles, which represent those who are saved in the New Testament age, and the names of the twelve tribes, which represent those who were saved in the Old Testament age (21:12, 14). Therefore, this city is a composition of those who are saved in the two ages—the Old Testament age and the New Testament age. This city is the bride, the wife, of the Lamb. Even today God still has not yet completed this city; He is still building it.
We have made a great turn here. I hope that you brothers and sisters remember this great turn. This great turn links the entire Gospel of John, Revelation, and Hebrews 11 and 12.