The title Jerusalem is composed of two Hebrew words—Jeru meaning “foundation,” and Salem meaning “peace.” Paul tells us in Hebrews 7 that the king of Salem is the king of peace (v. 2). Salem is peace, and Jeru is that which is founded, built, and laid as a foundation. Thus, Jerusalem means the foundation of peace. Jerusalem is that which is grounded, founded, and safeguarded in peace. The Bible indicates that peace is God Himself. In the New Testament there are two titles—the God of peace (Phil. 4:9; 1 Thes. 5:23) and the peace of God (Phil. 4:7). Both of these titles indicate that God Himself is our peace. Also, Ephesians 2:14 indicates that Christ Himself is our peace. This peace is God into whom we have been grounded. This is not an outward peace but an inward peace in which we are safeguarded. In eternity we will enjoy this peace.
The Lord Jesus told us, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). Our Lord also said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have affliction, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” Since the Lord has given us His peace, today we should live in His peace. Actually, the Lord Himself is still here as our peace. Jerusalem is the Triune God to be our peace, to be our safety. The entire New Jerusalem will be an entity of peace. The New Jerusalem will be solidly grounded and safeguarded in the Triune God as peace and safety, and we will enjoy the Triune God as peace forever.
Since the New Jerusalem is the bride, we should not consider her as a material city. Christ will marry only something living. The bride will be composed of all the redeemed, regenerated, and transformed saints of God. In the New Jerusalem there will be no wood, bricks, or dust. Instead, there will be gold, pearl, and transformed precious stones.
The fact that the New Jerusalem is such a living composition means that it is a living building. The thought that God’s people are a living building is not first found in the book of Revelation. In the Old Testament we see that God’s people were considered material to be built together as His dwelling place.
The Bible covers two main things—God’s creation and God’s building. In the beginning of the Bible we have creation, and at the end we have the building. Between these two ends we have God’s building work. In creation God produced the building materials. As He carries on His building work, He fits all these materials together into one unit, which is His building.
In Genesis 2 we have a garden created, and in Revelation 21 we have a city constructed. A garden is something natural, created by God, but a city is something built up by Him. The New Jerusalem is not a natural garden but a built-up city. In the garden in Genesis 2 there is the tree of life, and near the tree of life there is a river flowing in four directions (vv. 8-10). By the flow of this river we have gold, bdellium, and onyx, a precious stone. Bdellium here is a resin secreted by a tree that hardens to form a pearl-like substance. The first mention of stone in the Bible is not of ordinary, common stone but of onyx, a type of precious stone.
According to the record of Genesis 28, Jacob, a supplanter, had a divine dream in which he saw a ladder set up on earth and reaching to heaven. When he awoke from his sleep, he called the name of that place the house of God (v. 17). Then he took the stone he had used for a pillow, set it up as a pillar, anointed it with oil, and called it Bethel, meaning the house of God (vv. 18-19, 22).
According to Exodus 28, twelve precious stones were set on the breastplate of the high priest (vv. 15-21), the first of which was sardius and the last of which was jasper. Included among these twelve stones was onyx. This indicates that the breastplate of the high priest is related to both Genesis 2 and Revelation 21, for in Genesis 2 we have onyx, and in Revelation 21 we have jasper. In the description of the breastplate of the high priest and of the two onyx stones engraved with the names of the children of Israel (Exo. 28:9-12), we see a miniature of God’s building. The precious stones of both the breastplate and the shoulder pieces bore the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. This signifies that the redeemed Israelites are for God’s building. The twelve precious stones on the breastplate were set in gold. The gold base held all the precious stones. Certainly this is a picture of God’s building. This breastplate was a type of the building that expressed God.
John 1 tells us that when Peter first met the Lord Jesus, the Lord changed his name from Simon to Cephas, which means a stone (v. 42). After Peter received the revelation that the Lord was the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord said, “I also say to you that you are a stone, and upon this rock I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18, lit.). In this one verse we have the stone and the rock. Later, in his first Epistle, Peter says, “Coming to Him, a living stone, rejected by men but with God chosen and precious, you yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house” (2:4-5). Therefore, the concept that the believers are stones to be built up for God’s habitation is not new in the book of Revelation. It is found elsewhere in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.
If we put together all the portions of the Word concerning the stone, we will see that precious stones signify God’s redeemed, regenerated, and transformed people. All the stones with which the New Jerusalem is built are God’s redeemed, regenerated, and transformed saints. The apostle Peter tells us clearly that we are living stones. Now we are in the process of transformation and of being built into God’s building. First, God transforms us; then He builds us. Therefore, the New Jerusalem is not a pile of material; it is a composition of material that has been built up. The entire city of New Jerusalem is God’s building, the living composition of all God’s redeemed, regenerated, and transformed saints.