Concerning the Jerusalem from above, there are six vital matters: the Father, the grace, the mother, the sons, the city, and the covenant. The covenant of promise is surely a matter of grace. It is clearly revealed in the New Testament that grace is God Himself, and God Himself is the Father. Hence, God the Father is the grace. According to Galatians 4, this grace, which produces the many sons of God, is the mother. How can the grace be both the Father and the mother? The answer is that the Father through grace becomes the mother. When the Father is given, He is the Father. When what He gives of Himself is used in function, it becomes the mother. The Father is the grace, and the grace becomes the mother, who produces the sons, and the sons are the components of the mother. Furthermore, the mother is the city, the Jerusalem above, and the city is the covenant. The covenant is a covenant of grace, for it is altogether a matter of grace. Therefore, we have God the Father, the grace, the mother, the sons born of the mother, the city, which is the mother, and the covenant, which is of grace and which is the embodiment of grace.
God the Father is the grace given to us. Before this grace came, it was promised. Hence, it was the promised grace, that is, the promise of grace. Just as the promise of the Spirit is the Spirit Himself, so the promise of grace is the grace itself. This grace promised is the producer, and this producer is the mother. The mother is the city, the Jerusalem above, and the city is the covenant. In Galatians 4 the two women are two covenants, and the two covenants refer to two cities, one of which is the city above, the Jerusalem above, who is our mother.
Eventually, the Father, the grace, the mother, the sons, the city, and the covenant will become one entity-the New Jerusalem. In the last two chapters of the Bible, Revelation 21 and 22, we see the New Jerusalem, a unique entity, in the center of the new heaven and new earth. The New Jerusalem is a composition of God, of God’s grace, of God’s covenant, of the mother, and of all her sons. All these combine to produce the one entity of the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is produced by the dispensing of the processed Triune God into us as grace to bring us forth as God’s many sons. These sons compose the New Jerusalem, which is our mother.
The New Jerusalem is a matter of dispensing, mingling, and expression. First, the processed Triune God is dispensed into His chosen people. Then the processed, consummated Triune God mingles Himself with His redeemed and regenerated tripartite people to perfect, transform, and glorify them. Eventually, there will be the universal and eternal expression of the processed and consummated Triune God. Therefore, with respect to the New Jerusalem, the words dispensing, mingling, and expression are very meaningful.
The Jerusalem above is the city Abraham was looking for (Heb. 11:10). This is also the city to which we have come (Heb. 12:22), the city which is the mother who has produced us as sons of God. This city, a unique entity in the universe, comprises the Triune God, the grace of God, the mother, the covenant, the believers, the church, and the kingdom. This city, the New Jerusalem, will be the ultimate consummation of the divine dispensing and the divine mingling for the eternal and ultimate expression of the processed Triune God. May we all have a clear view of this marvelous entity.
If we have a clear view and proper understanding of the Jerusalem above, the New Jerusalem, we will realize that such an entity cannot possibly be a material, physical city. A material city cannot be the covenant or the grace. Moreover, a material city cannot be the producing mother nor the composition of the many sons of God. With a material city there cannot be the divine dispensing or the divine mingling with humanity. Finally, with a material city there is no divine expression.
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