Revelation 21:12 says that on the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel, and Revelation 21:14 tells us that on the twelve foundations of the New Jerusalem are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The twelve tribes represent the Old Testament saints and the twelve apostles, the New Testament saints. This indicates that all the saints of both the Old Testament and New Testament are the components, the constituent, of the New Jerusalem for God’s expression. All the saints are God’s regenerated and transformed children. They are the sons of God spoken of in Revelation 21:7, having God’s life and nature, different from the peoples spoken of in Revelation 21:3, who are the nations around the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:24 and 22:2. The New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth will be the aggregate of all the sons of God, who have been redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, transformed, and glorified for the building of the New Jerusalem as God’s consummate manifestation for eternity.
Revelation 21:18 says, “The city was pure gold, like pure glass,” and Revelation 21:21 says, “The street of the city was pure gold as transparent glass.” Since the street of the city is gold, gold must be the base of the city, on which is the street. Gold, in typology, signifies God in His divine nature. The divine nature of God is the base of the city. This indicates that the New Jerusalem is wholly constituted of the nature of God, which is pure and transparent as the pure and transparent glass without any mixture, with which and in which nothing can be covered. This affords God a pure and transparent expression for His consummate manifestation in the New Jerusalem.
Revelation 21:13 and 21 tell us that the New Jerusalem has “on the east three gates, and on the north three gates, and on the south three gates, and on the west three gates...and the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was, respectively, of one pearl.” Pearl signifies Christ with His life-releasing death and His life-secreting resurrection to cause the sinners to be regenerated with His divine life that they may become parts of the New Jerusalem as its entrance. This entrance brings in the blending (signified by the number twelve) of the Triune God (signified by the number three) with the created man (signified by the number four, implied in the four times of three gates) for the manifestation of the Triune God.
Revelation 21:18-20 tell us that the building material of its wall was jasper, and that the foundation of the wall of the city was adorned with twelve precious stones the first of which was also jasper. Jasper, with its dark green color, a sign of being rich in life, signifies the appearance of the very God who is rich in life. This indicates that the New Jerusalem is built with all the redeemed saints who have been transformed into precious stones (1 Cor. 3:12; 1 Peter 2:2-5), the leading category of which is jasper, bearing the very appearance of their God who is rich in life, and shining with the light like a most precious stone, even jasper stone, clear as crystal, for the expression of the transforming God in His manifestation in the new creation for eternity.
The transformation of the saints, from their natural being into precious stones, which signify the riches of Christ in different splendors with the appearance of God’s life in its richness, is done by the Spirit. The New Jerusalem is composed of three categories of precious materials: gold, signifying God in His divine nature; pearls, signifying Christ in His life-releasing death and life-secreting resurrection; and precious stones, signifying the Spirit in His transforming work. God is embodied in Christ (Col. 2:9), and Christ is realized as the Spirit (John 14:16-20). The Three are one, especially in the believers’ experience of life. God’s nature is His divine life which is the very life Christ released through His death and is secreting in His resurrection into His believers. With this life the Spirit transforms the believers, making them precious materials for the building of the New Jerusalem to express the processed Triune God in what the Three of the Godhead are and have done, in His marvelous manifestation in the ages to come in eternity.
Home | First | Prev | Next