As we have seen, the wall of the holy city is built with precious materials pressed and burned by the divine hand. We have to realize that we may have the gold as the city itself and the pearls as the entrance to the city, but if we do not have the precious stones, we do not have the wall. What is the function of the wall? The wall is for separation, and it is also for protection and safety. In many churches, there may be the gold, and there may be the pearls as the entrance, but they do not have the wall. Likewise, many believers have the gold within them, and they have the entrance, but they do not have the wall. They have never been built up. They are “flat” and “horizontal”; they have no dimensions. It is as if every part of them is an entrance. There is no separation, no protection, and no safety. There is nothing of the Holy Spirit wrought into them for them to be built up as a wall. We must have something of the Holy Spirit burned, wrought, into us to make us precious stones that we may be built up as a separation, as a protection, as a safeguard, as a separating line, to separate what is holy from what is worldly.
Furthermore, Revelation 21:18a says, “And the building work of its wall was jasper.” Jasper is the appearance of the revealed God, the expressed God (4:3). When God reveals Himself, He appears as jasper, shining, transparent, with the divine expression. The wall of the holy city has the appearance of God, expressing the image of God. How can this be? It is simply because the believers, after the pressing and the burning, have been conformed to the image of God. Today we may have certain brothers who are nice and good naturally. When you meet them, you do not sense the appearance of God, the expression of God, the image of God. However, perhaps after five years they may have gone through some troubles, trials, burning, and pressing. When you meet them again, they may still be good and nice, but they are different. You will sense with them that there is the appearance of God, the expression of God, the image of God. You will see the divine jasper in them because they have been burned and pressed in the hand of the Holy Spirit. They have the appearance of God, and this very appearance of God is the boundary line, the separating line, of the church, separating what is of the church from what is not of the church and separating what is holy from what is worldly. The more you are like God, the more you are separated from the world. The more you express God, the more you have the separating line.
Revelation 21:14 says, “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” The wall is built upon the foundations of the apostles of the Lamb. This means that the wall is built upon the Christ who is brought to us by the apostles. Who are the apostles of the Lamb? They are the bearers of Christ. They are the transformed transmitting agents of Christ. That the wall is built upon the apostles of the Lamb simply means that the wall is built upon the Christ who is brought to us through the apostles as the transmitting agents. The children of Israel are the entrances, but the apostles of the Lamb are the foundations because they have Christ, and they brought Christ to us. This is a picture of the church. The church is built upon nothing other than the Christ brought and taught to us by the apostles.
Now we come to the last item of this holy city. The entire city is an expression of God in light, in life, and in glory. Revelation 21:11 says, “Having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.” Thus, the whole city is an expression of God. It is a vessel, a container, a corporate Body, a built-up city to express God. This again is a picture of the church.
In conclusion, we must realize what the New Jerusalem is. The New Jerusalem is a living composition of all the saved persons throughout all the generations from the Old Testament time to the end of the New Testament time. They have been regenerated. They have been transformed in nature and in form. They have been changed absolutely into the same condition, the same situation, and the same form as God. Moreover, they have been built up together as a corporate vessel, a corporate container, to contain God and to express God. Therefore, God in Christ through the Spirit is the contents of this city, and God is the glory expressed through this city. This is the picture of the church. If we are going to understand the church and realize the real church life, we have to see this picture and understand all the aspects of this picture. May the Lord bless us in this matter.
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