We have seen that the New Jerusalem is the Jerusalem above, the city of the living God, a sign, the tabernacle of God, and the wife of the redeeming Christ. In this message we will begin to consider the many aspects of the New Jerusalem as the holy city.
The New Jerusalem is the holy city (Rev. 21:2, 10). The designation holy city signifies that the New Jerusalem is a city sanctified and separated unto God for the fulfilling of His purpose. As the holy city of God, the New Jerusalem is holy, sanctified, fully separated unto God, and thoroughly saturated with God’s holy nature to be His habitation. This holy city is thoroughly permeated and mingled with God. This great city is utterly separated unto God and saturated with Him. The New Jerusalem is both sanctified and separated unto God positionally and sanctified and saturated with God dispositionally. It is holy both extrinsically and intrinsically. It is an entity, entirely and thoroughly holy, that fits in with God’s holy nature for His expression to fulfill the desire of His heart.
In the New Testament the word holy means not only separated unto God but also saturated with God, whereas in the Old Testament to be made holy is only to be separated unto God. There is no saturation of God in the Old Testament, and the holiness, or sanctification, there is only positional, not dispositional. In the New Testament, however, we see both objective, positional sanctification and subjective, dispositional sanctification (Matt. 23:17, 19; Rom. 6:19, 22; 1 Thes. 5:23). In positional sanctification there is only a change of position, but in dispositional sanctification there is the transformation in nature and in element. The New Jerusalem as the holy city is holy not merely in the sense of the Old Testament but also in the sense of the New Testament. This means that the New Jerusalem is not merely a city separated unto God but also a city saturated with God.
Based upon this principle, we can see that the holy city, the New Jerusalem, cannot be a physical city since a physical city cannot be saturated with God. The New Jerusalem is a city composed of living persons who have been separated unto God and saturated with Him.
The New Jerusalem as the holy city is built with all the redeemed and perfected saints of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. This means that the New Jerusalem is a living composition of all God’s redeemed. The holy city is thus a living building.
All the saints of both the Old Testament and the New Testament are the components, the constituents, 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, they are 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 ultimate manifestation for eternity.
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