In the foregoing messages we have seen that the New Jerusalem is the Jerusalem above and the city of the living God. In this message we shall consider the New Jerusalem as a sign.
If we would understand the significance of the New Jerusalem as a sign, we need to see the crucial importance of the first verse of Revelation. This verse is the key to open up the entire book. Without this key, the book of Revelation will be closed to us.
Revelation 1:1 says, “The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him to show to His slaves what must swiftly take place; and He made it known by signs, sending it by His angel to His slave, John.” Here we see that the divine revelation is given to Jesus Christ and that He makes it known by signs. All the pictures in Revelation are signs. The revelation in the book of Revelation is composed mainly of signs, that is, symbols with spiritual significance, such as the seven lampstands signifying the churches and the seven stars signifying the messengers of the churches (1:20). Even the New Jerusalem is a sign, signifying the ultimate consummation of God’s economy. This book, then, is a book of signs, symbols through which the revelation is made known to us. John’s Gospel is a book of signs signifying how Christ came to be our life to produce the church, His bride. John’s Revelation is also a book of signs showing how Christ is now caring for the church and how He is coming to judge and possess the earth and to bring the church, His bride, into God’s full economy.
In the book of Revelation, which is the conclusion of the New Testament and even of the entire Bible, there are two great signs. In chapter one there is the sign of the golden lampstands, and in chapters twenty-one and twenty-two there is the greatest sign, the sign of the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the aggregate of all the lampstands. At the beginning of Revelation, there are seven lampstands, the local lampstands in this age. At the end of Revelation, there is an aggregate, a composite lampstand, the universal lampstand in eternity. Therefore, Revelation begins with the lampstands and ends with the lampstand. The lampstands are signs of the churches, whereas the New Jerusalem is a sign of God’s eternal dwelling place and of Christ’s wife, His eternal counterpart.
The signs in the book of Revelation should not be interpreted literally. We should not think that the church is an actual lampstand with seven shining lamps. Likewise, we should not think that Christ is literally a lamb (Rev. 5:6). In the same principle, we should not consider the New Jerusalem a material city. The New Jerusalem is Christ’s wife, and He, of course, cannot marry a physical city. Since we do not take the other signs in Revelation literally, we should not interpret the New Jerusalem as a literal, physical city for us to dwell in. Such an interpretation is altogether natural. If we do not interpret the seven lampstands as meaning that the seven churches are literally golden lampstands, or the lamb as meaning that Christ is an actual lamb, we should not interpret the New Jerusalem as a material city. The lampstands and the lamb are signs, and the New Jerusalem also is a sign.
If the New Jerusalem were an actual city made of gold, pearls, and precious stones, this would mean that a material city was the conclusion of the entire divine revelation. This is not logical. God has been working throughout the ages, first creating the universe and man and then coming to earth to redeem man. The Lord Jesus, the God-man, lived on earth, He was crucified and resurrected, He ascended, and He poured Himself out as the Spirit upon His disciples. The disciples then went out to preach the gospel. As a result of the preaching of the gospel, throughout the centuries people have been saved and added to the church in order to be built up as the Body of Christ to express Him. To be sure, the final outcome of all this will not be a material city.
Just as the lampstands are not actual lampstands but signs of the churches, so the New Jerusalem is not an actual city but a sign of the ultimate consummation of God’s economy. The New Jerusalem is a great sign of the totality of all God’s chosen, redeemed, regenerated, and transformed people.
The church today is the house of the living God (1 Tim. 3:15). This house is not an actual house but the totality of God’s people. This house is a sign signifying that the church’s function today is to be a house in which the Triune God can dwell. In eternity this house will be enlarged to a city-the New Jerusalem. Just as the church as God’s house is not an actual physical house, so the New Jerusalem is not an actual physical city. The city of New Jerusalem is a sign signifying the church’s function in eternity to be God’s dwelling place.
The New Jerusalem is the last and greatest sign in the Bible, and we all need the proper interpretation and understanding of this sign. As a sign the New Jerusalem indicates that God, through creation, incarnation, redemption, resurrection, ascension, and all His transforming and building work, will gain a living composition of His chosen, redeemed, regenerated, and transformed people to be His dwelling place and His counterpart to fully satisfy and express Him for eternity.
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