The New Jerusalem is composed of many members, represented by the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles (vv. 12, 14), but they all are one. All the arguing, debating, and fighting will have been swallowed up by life and light. Death will be entirely swallowed up, and all darkness will be chased away by light. Therefore, everyone in the New Jerusalem will be wholly in oneness.
Today, physically speaking, millions of people are walking under the sun by day and under electrical light by night, but spiritually speaking, they are walking in darkness. Yet for eternity in the New Jerusalem the nations will walk in the light of the holy city. God will work out such a city. One day the New Jerusalem will be completed with God shining through this city upon all the rest of creation. This is the age in which God is working to save people and build them up to produce the New Jerusalem as the universal lampstand that holds Christ as the lamp with God within Him as the light. God will shine on all creation through this universal lampstand, and by this shining, this enlightening, God will bring all things into order. All creation will be brought into the order of the manifestation of the sons of God.
God has a process to carry out. He has much work to do in the church. He needs to work Himself into us as life so that we may be full of light and be controlled by this light. Then we will have the oneness, the harmony, and this will be the real building up. It is by this building that God will shine out and shine upon all creation to bring them out of confusion, the slavery of corruption, and vanity. That time will be the fullness of the times. It will be the time that all creation will be liberated, because death will have been swallowed up. After the end of the coming millennial kingdom, the ancient serpent and death will be cast into the lake of fire (20:10, 14). Death will be the last enemy to be dealt with by God (1 Cor. 15:26, 54). After death is dealt with, the universe will be full of light. Under this light all creation will be freed from the slavery of corruption and liberated from vanity and brought into the freedom of the glory of the sons of God, which is the shining of the New Jerusalem. The shining of the New Jerusalem is the manifestation, the glory, of the sons of God. All the nations will be brought into this shining, and they will walk in this light and be controlled by this light. There will be no more confusion; hence, there will be no more vanity and slavery of corruption. Creation will be completely released from the slavery of corruption and will be brought into the freedom of the glory of the holy city.
All this depends on the work of God within and through us. God must work out this city as a corporate vessel that He may be life in every way to us and shine through us as light upon the whole creation. Today God is working Himself into us as life. Therefore, we need to be dealt with, and we need to be permeated and saturated with God. Then we will be full of light, and under this light we will be controlled, have oneness and harmony, be built up, and become the universal vessel through which God will head up all things under the shining of His Body.
God must first work in the church until the church is full of life inwardly and is entirely subject to the Head. Then the church will be one and will arrive at the oneness (Eph. 4:13). After God has worked thoroughly in the church, the restoration of all things will begin. God’s work begins with the church and then spreads outward, passing through the church to all things. The church arrives at the oneness through the church’s arriving at the full knowledge of the Son of God. All things will be enlightened by the light that shines out through the oneness of the church, all will know Jehovah in the light of the oneness of the church (cf. Isa. 11:9), and all will be brought under the Head to arrive at the oneness.
In Revelation 21 we see that God placed the city in the center of the new universe so that the nations might walk by its light (v. 24). Without the city, the nations would be in darkness. Being in darkness is equivalent to being in death. Darkness is always a sign of death; moreover, being in death is to be void of oneness. When the nations walk by the light of the New Jerusalem, all things are one in the light of the city. Isaiah 2:5 says, “House of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of Jehovah,” and 11:9 says, “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah.” The knowledge of Jehovah is light, and light brings everyone into oneness.
If a brother is full of Christ, through this brother’s presence in his home, the light of life will shine forth and enlighten the entire home, enabling others to walk by his light. The light of life from within him will dispel the darkness in his home, and the power of life within him will swallow up any death. Even if the brothers have opinions and are fleshly and the sisters are not in harmony because of their tempers, this one brother’s presence will be as the shining of the New Jerusalem and will eliminate all the quarrels and disharmony. The flesh will not be able to operate, and tempers will not flare up. As a result of his shining, his entire family will walk in the light. Everyone will be in one accord and headed up. This is how God works to bring the entire home into the light.
When life has completely finished its work in the church, the church will be the New Jerusalem. God’s light will then shine forth through the New Jerusalem, bringing all things into the light. At that time darkness will be dispelled and death will have no place. The life of God is in the church and shines forth from the church. Eventually, the nations will walk by the light of life, which the church has received; however, the universe itself will not receive the life of God. Today in the church, the condition of some brothers and sisters may be compared to the center of the new universe, the New Jerusalem, which shines forth the life of God, but the condition of others may be compared to the surrounding nations, which receive the shining and influence of the New Jerusalem.
Every one of us in the church is responsible for allowing the Lord to work and shine in us and to be diffused through us. For us to be mature in life, we must let the cross break us, provide God the opportunity to deal with us, and allow Christ’s life to have the ground in us. Only when Christ is able to diffuse Himself out through us will we be mature. In that day the nations will walk by our light and be brought under the authority of God through our shining. At that time, all things will be headed up in Christ.
Revelation 21:23 is a clear picture of the centrality and universality of Christ. God shines in and through Christ, and Christ shines in and through the New Jerusalem. By this, Christ will be the centrality and universality in the coming eternity, when Christ will be the center, the circumference, and everything in the New Jerusalem.