Message Five

The New Jerusalem—
the Exhibition of the Grace of God in His Economy

Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:14; John 1:14; 1 Cor. 15:10; Rom. 5:21; 2 Tim. 4:22; Rev. 22:21

1. Grace denotes the contents of God’s eternal economy for the producing of the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem—2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6; Rev. 21:2:
   1. The highest and central revelation in the New Testament concerns grace, which is God, who is the New Jerusalem; grace, God, and the New Jerusalem are one—1 Pet. 5:10; Rev. 21:2; 22:21.
   2. Grace is the manifestation of the Triune God in His embodiment in three aspects—the Father (the source), the Son (the element), and the Spirit (the application); this grace consummates in the New Jerusalem—1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 8:9; Heb. 10:29.
   3. Grace is the Triune God processed and consummated for us that we may enjoy Him—John 1:14; Heb. 2:9; 1 Cor. 15:45b, 10:
      1. Through incarnation the Triune God became a man as grace coming to be among men for the accomplishment of redemption—John 1:14; Heb. 2:9.
      2. Through crucifixion and resurrection Christ, the last Adam, as the embodiment of the Triune God, became the life-giving Spirit as grace entering into man—1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17a.
      3. The processed and consummated Triune God dispenses Himself into us as grace that we may enjoy Him as our life, our life supply, and our everything—2 Cor. 13:14.
      4. Because the Triune God has been processed and consummated, He can do everything for us, give everything to us, and be everything to us—9:8.
      5. The processed and consummated Triune God, who dispenses Himself into us as grace, is the source, element, and essence of the Body of Christ, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem as His glorious enlargement and expression for eternity— Eph. 4:4-6; Rev. 21:2.
   4. The New Jerusalem is the fulfillment of the word in Romans 5:21 that grace reigns unto eternal life; grace reigns over all the enemies to bring in the New Jerusalem.
   5. The New Jerusalem will be an exhibition, displaying the rich grace of God, which has done everything for us to produce the New Jerusalem—Eph. 2:7; 1:6.
2. The foundation of the New Jerusalem is the twelve apostles, representing the grace of the New Testament and indicating that grace is the foundation of the holy city—Rev. 21:14:
   1. The twelve apostles, whose names are on the twelve foundations of the holy city, are the representation of the embodied and expressed grace of God—John 1:14:
      1. Grace is the processed and consummated Triune God embodied and expressed.
      2. God Himself as the embodiment and expression of grace is the foundation of the New Jerusalem.
   2. As the foundation of the New Jerusalem, grace is the producing factor—the source, the means, and the element for producing the city; therefore, the New Jerusalem is produced out of grace, with grace, in grace, and through grace—Rom. 5:2, 15, 17, 20-21.
3. The Jerusalem above—the New Jerusalem—is the mother of the believers, and this mother is the new covenant of grace—Gal. 4:22-26; Heb. 12:22; cf. Isa. 66:10-13:
   1. As the mother of the believers, the Jerusalem above is the new covenant of grace; thus, our mother is the grace of God—Gal. 4:26.
   2. The New Jerusalem is produced by the dispensing of the processed and consummated Triune God as grace to bring us forth as God’s many sons to compose the New Jerusalem, who is our mother—Rev. 21:7:
      1. On the one hand, we have been born of this mother.
      2. On the other hand, this mother is composed of all the sons.
   3. The Father, the grace, the mother, the sons, the city, and the covenant all become one entity—the New Jerusalem—Heb. 12:9; 4:16; 8:6, 8; 12:22.
4. We become the New Jerusalem by enjoying the grace of God, and we build the New Jerusalem by ministering the grace of God—Gal. 6:18; Eph. 3:2; 4:29; Col. 4:6; 1 Pet. 4:10; Rom. 12:6:
   1. What God wants is that we experience the grace in His economy so that the Divine Trinity may have an organism for His expression—Eph. 4:4-7, 16.
   2. All the spiritual experiences of a Christian should be experiences of Christ as grace—Eph. 2:8; 2 Cor. 12:9; 2 Tim. 1:9; 2:1:
      1. Our Christian life is essentially a life of having God as our grace—1 Pet. 5:10, 5; James 4:6.
      2. The everyday experience of the believers must be grace—Phil. 4:23.
      3. The Lord being with our spirit equals grace being with us—2 Tim. 4:22.
   3. As “good stewards of the varied grace of God,” we should minister grace to the church and to the saints by the gift we have received—1 Pet. 4:10; Rom. 12:6.
   4. The stewardship of the grace is for the dispensing of the grace of God to His chosen people for the producing and building up of the church as the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem—Eph. 3:2; Col. 1:25.
5. “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints”—Rev. 22:21:
   1. The Lord’s grace being with us is based upon all the particular aspects of the New Jerusalem.
   2. The New Jerusalem is the base upon which the grace of the Lord Jesus is with all the saints for the accomplishment of the eternal economy of God.
   3. This grace consummates in the New Jerusalem as the consummation of God’s good pleasure in joining and mingling Himself with man for His glorious enlargement and eternal expression.