Message Ten

The New Jerusalem—the Triune Constitution

Scripture Reading: Gen. 2:10-12; 1 Cor. 3:9-12;
Rev. 21:18-21

1. The New Jerusalem is the Triune God, the Divine Trinity, as three basic factors (signified by gold, pearls, and precious stones), wrought into and structured together with His redeemed as the conclusion of the whole Bible—Rev. 21:18-21; cf. 17:4.
2. We need to be constituted with the Triune God as our intrinsic elements for us to become the New Jerusalem—Gen. 2:10-12; Rev. 21:18-21:
   1. We need to adorn and consummate the New Jerusalem (vv. 2, 19) with God the Father as its golden base, God the Son as its pearl gates, and God the Spirit for its wall of precious stones, by drinking the Spirit, the flowing Triune God, as the river of water of life, and eating Christ, the overcoming Lion-Lamb, as the tree of life with His rich and fresh supply (22:1-2):
      1. We need to daily drink the Spirit as the river of water of life by exercising our spirit to call on the Lord continually and draw water with joy from Him as the fountain of living water—Isa. 12:3-4; 1 Cor. 12:13, 3b; John 4:10, 14.
      2. We need to daily eat Christ as the tree of life by exercising our spirit to pray-read His word and receive His word with much reconsideration—Eph. 6:17-18; John 6:57, 63; Jer. 15:16; cf. Lev. 11:3.
   2. We need to pay the price to buy gold, signifying God in His divine nature—Rev. 21:18; 3:18:
      1. Having the filling of the Spirit with the divine nature, signified by the golden oil in Zechariah 4:12, is at a cost, such as giving up the world, dealing with self, loving the Lord above all, and counting all things loss for Christ; if we do not pay the price today, we will have to pay it after we are resurrected—Rev. 3:18; Matt. 25:8-9.
      2. Our Christian life should be regulated by the divine nature as our unique street—Rev. 21:21b; 22:1.
      3. Through the promises of God, we can enjoy the divine nature wrought into our being as our intrinsic element—2 Pet. 1:4; cf. Matt. 6:33; Phil. 4:6-7.
   3. We need to experience Christ, as the reality of the pearl gates, in His redeeming and life-releasing death and His life-dispensing resurrection:
      1. An oyster (Christ) lives in the salty water (the world of death) and is wounded by a grain of sand (crucified for the sinner) to produce a pearl by secreting its life-juice (dispensing His life element)—cf. Rev. 21:21a.
      2. We need to daily experience the death of Christ subjectively by the power of His resurrection to be conformed to His death—Phil. 3:10; 1 Cor. 15:31b; Gal. 6:17-18; cf. S. S. 2:8-9, 14-15.
      3. We need to daily experience the resurrection of Christ subjectively by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ that we may be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God—Phil. 1:19-21a; Rom. 8:29.
   4. We need to experience the Spirit in His work to transform us into precious stones for the building of God’s eternal habitation—Rev. 21:18-20:
      1. We can behold the Lord Spirit in our spirit with an unveiled face to absorb His riches into our being and reflect Him like a mirror to express Him— 2 Cor. 3:16, 18; Phil. 4:6-7.
      2. We are transformed into precious stones through the burning work of the Spirit by means of many different circumstances to remove the dross of our natural being—2 Cor. 4:16; Rom. 8:28.
      3. For the church life, there is the need of the transformed human virtues, which have been strengthened and enriched by the divine attributes—Rom. 12:2-3; Eph. 4:1-3.
3. We need to minister the Triune God into people to be their intrinsic elements for us to build the New Jerusalem—1 Cor. 3:9-12; Ezek. 22:30; cf. Num. 18:1:
   1. We need to build the church for the building of the New Jerusalem with gold (God in His divine nature), silver (Christ in His redemptive work—corresponding to pearls in Rev. 21:21), and precious stones (the Spirit in His transforming work)—1 Cor. 3:12; cf. S. S. 1:10-11:
      1. Our move in the Lord’s move should be based upon His golden nature in the flow of the Spirit, the fellowship of the divine life—Rev. 22:1; 14:4.
      2. We need to go out with God to the four directions of the earth to preach regeneration through the death-overcoming and life-secreting Christ as the entrance into the holy city (1 Pet. 1:3, 23) and remain under the killing of the Lord’s death so that His resurrection life may be imparted into others through us (Col. 1:24; 2 Cor. 4:10-12).
      3. We need to minister the transforming and building life of Christ for the believers’ transformation and building—2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 4:16.
   2. To build with the worthless materials of wood (the human nature), grass (man in the flesh—Isa. 40:6-7), and stubble (lifelessness) is to destroy (ruin, corrupt, defile, or mar) the temple of God—1 Cor. 3:12, 17:
      1. All that we do in our service to the Lord should be out from Him as the source, through Him as the means, and to Him for His glory—Rom. 11:36; cf. Num. 18:1:
         1. The initiation of God’s work should be out of God according to His will, not out of us according to our preference—John 5:19; Acts 20:24.
         2. The advance of God’s work should be by God’s power, not our power—Matt. 12:28; 1 Cor. 2:2-4.
         3. The result of God’s work should be for God’s glory, not our glory—John 7:18; 1 Cor. 10:31.
      2. We need to be burning in spirit, serving the Lord as a slave with the fire of His life, not with strange fire, signifying natural enthusiasm, which brings in spiritual death—Rom. 12:11; Lev. 10:1-2; cf. Exo. 3:2, 6.
      3. The building work with gold, silver, and precious stones will be rewarded by the Lord at His coming back; if it is with wood, grass, and stubble, it will be burned on the day of the Lord’s coming—1 Cor. 3:12-15.