In addition, each one of the twelve gates is a pearl (21:21a). Pearls also have an important spiritual significance. We must recognize that the city has three kinds of materials: gold, pearls, and precious stones. The gates are pearls, the wall is built with precious stones, and the city proper with its street is pure gold. We recall that Genesis 2 says that a river went forth from Eden and that there were gold, bdellium (pearl), and onyx stone (a precious stone). These are the same three kinds of materials found in the New Jerusalem. Hence, the three materials in Genesis 2 appear again in the New Jerusalem. This shows that these three materials are of great significance to the building of God.

The record in this portion of the Word is symbolic or allegorical. Like a picture, it looks very simple on the surface, but its intrinsic significance is profound. If you read the Scriptures, you will find that each one of these three kinds of materials-pure gold, precious stones, and pearls-has its definite significance. If we would like to know the building up of the church, the building work of God throughout the ages, we need to understand the meanings of these materials in the Scriptures.

Let us first look at the pearls, which are a very special kind of material. Pearls are produced by oysters, which grow in the sea. When an oyster is wounded by a grain of sand, it is stimulated to secrete a substance onto the grain of sand that gradually makes it into a pearl. Therefore, in the spiritual sense, the pearl denotes how we were regenerated to become a new creation in the wound of Christ. While in the world as the sea, the Lord Jesus as the oyster was wounded by us. As earthly people, every one of us may be likened to a grain of sand. As grains of sands, we wounded Christ, and in His wound we experienced a transformation in life. By receiving the Lord’s death we become a new creation through regeneration with the life that came out of Him. In this life, both death and resurrection are included. In the wound of the Lord we died with Him, resurrected together with Him, and also live together with Him in the new creation. This is the significance of pearls, which are formed by the mingling of the sand and the oyster. This corresponds with the principle of three times four, the principle of the mingling of God with man.

Therefore, that the gates of the city are pearls indicates that whoever does not correspond with the nature of the pearl cannot enter into the city to participate in it. Anyone who enters into the city through the gate has to be the product of three times four-the issue of the mingling of God with man, and a new creation in Christ through death and resurrection. You cannot bring anything natural, anything of the earth, into this building. Every grain of sand must be changed by entering into the oyster’s wound. Every earthy person must pass through death and resurrection through the cross of Christ. All natural beings and all natural elements must become a new creation-pearl-through the dealing of the cross. Only then can they enter through the gates.

After reading this, you may understand it in theory, but you still may not be clear about the application. Therefore, let me give you an illustration. For example, let us consider a person who is well educated. His mind is clear, and he is eloquent in speaking and competent in debating. Suppose that this person gets saved into the church in Taipei, and loves the Lord fervently. As a result, within two months all of his good qualities will be manifested. When the responsible brothers see his condition, they will likely say, “Oh, this brother is a mouthpiece; let us ask him to stand on the platform and give messages.” I want to tell you, brothers and sisters, that if this happens, those responsible brothers will be making a big mistake. Since this brother has been saved for only a short amount of time, his eloquence, his mind, his education, and his way of thinking are all natural, sandy, and earthy. They are not of resurrection or pearly. None of his qualities can enter through the gates into the building of God. Therefore, if the responsible brothers invite him to give a message, he may speak with great eloquence and present all the points in good order, and everyone may shower praises on him. However, after he has been speaking for two or three months, I am afraid that the church will collapse because all his speaking will have been natural and earthy instead of pearl. His natural abilities have not yet touched the wound of Christ, have not yet been dealt with by the cross, and have not yet passed through death and resurrection. Therefore, instead of building the church, they tear it down.
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