In this message we will consider four more aspects of the New Jerusalem as the holy city-the temple in the city, the light and the lamp, the street, and the throne.
Revelation 21:22a says, “I saw no temple in it.” This verse clearly indicates that in the New Jerusalem there will be no temple. In the Old Testament the tabernacle of God was a precursor of the temple of God. Before the temple appeared, there was the tabernacle. But when the tabernacle came into its fullness, it became the temple. In keeping with this principle, the New Jerusalem as the tabernacle of God (v. 3) will be the temple of God. This indicates that in the new heaven and new earth the temple of God will be enlarged to be a city. Since the city itself will be the temple, there will be “no temple in it.”
The Greek word for temple in verse 22, naos, does not denote the whole temple in a common way including the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place. Rather, it denotes the inner temple, the Holy of Holies. This indicates that the entire city of New Jerusalem is the Holy of Holies. The three equal dimensions of the city (v. 16) also indicate that the whole city is the Holy of Holies, the inner temple.
Revelation 21:22b says, “Its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.” This reveals that the temple is not material or physical. On the contrary, the temple is a personal temple, even the Triune God Himself. The expression “the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” refers to the redeeming Triune God. Thus, the temple is a person, and this person is the Triune God, the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. Our God today is the Redeemer as well as the Triune God. This redeeming Triune God is our temple.
Since God and the Lamb are the temple, They cannot dwell in it, and it is not Their dwelling place. Rather, it is the dwelling place of all the redeemed saints, who serve the Triune God by dwelling in Him. On the one hand, the New Jerusalem, which is composed of all the redeemed saints, as the habitation of God, is the tabernacle; on the other hand, the New Jerusalem, which is constituted of the processed Triune God, as the dwelling place of all the redeemed saints, is the temple. Therefore, the New Jerusalem is the mutual dwelling of both the redeeming God and His redeemed. It is both the tabernacle and the temple. The tabernacle is the redeemed, and the temple is the redeeming God. This indicates strongly that the redeeming God is mingled with His redeemed, through the processes through which He has passed and the procedures in which they have shared, for His eternal expression.
In John 15:4 the Lord Jesus says, “Abide in Me and I in you.” This abiding is actually a matter of dwelling. Here we have a mutual abiding, a mutual dwelling. When we take the Lord as our dwelling place, we become His dwelling place. How marvelous! The New Jerusalem will be a mutual dwelling place, for we will dwell in God that He may dwell in us.
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