Message Nine

The New Jerusalem—
the Ultimate Consummation
(1)
The Divine Economy, the Divine Building,
and the Divine Romance

Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:9-23

1. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the divine economy—Rev. 21:2; 1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:10:
   1. God’s economy is His plan to dispense Himself into His chosen, predestinated, and redeemed people as their life, their life supply, and their everything to produce, constitute, and build up the organic Body of Christ, which consummates the New Jerusalem—Eph. 1:4-5, 7-10, 13-14, 22-23; Rev. 21:10.
   2. God’s eternal economy is to make man the same as He is in life and in nature but not in the Godhead and to make Himself one with man and man one with Him, thus to be enlarged and expanded in His expression, that all His divine attributes may be expressed in human virtues.
   3. God’s economy and goal according to His heart’s desire are to build Himself into our being and to build us into His being in order to mingle His divinity with our humanity into one entity— the Body of Christ, which consummates the New Jerusalem—Eph. 1:9-10, 22-23; 3:17a; John 14:20; Rev. 3:12.
   4. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate goal of God’s economy—21:2:
      1. God has only one ultimate goal—the New Jerusalem, God’s enlargement, expansion, and expression—vv. 9-10.
      2. According to the entire revelation of the New Testament, the unique goal of the Christian work should be the New Jerusalem; thus, we must take the goal of God’s eternal economy— the New Jerusalem—as our unique and ultimate goal—1 Cor. 3:12; Heb. 11:10; 12:22; Rev. 3:12.
2. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the divine building—Exo. 25:8; Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:21-22; Rev. 21:2, 10-23:
   1. Satan’s building will consummate in the great Babylon; God’s building will consummate in the New Jerusalem, which will ultimately fulfill God’s eternal purpose, express God, and fully satisfy Him for eternity—v. 2.
   2. The New Jerusalem is a composition of all the saints redeemed by God and built up together with God and in God as a mutual dwelling place for the satisfaction and rest of both God and man—John 15:4a; Rev. 21:12-14.
   3. As the consummation of the divine building, the New Jerusalem has two natures—humanity and divinity—vv. 3, 22:
      1. According to its humanity, the New Jerusalem is the tabernacle of God among men—the dwelling place of God in His humanity among men on earth—v. 3.
      2. According to its divinity, the New Jerusalem is the temple of God as the dwelling place of His redeemed elect—v. 22.
   4. As the consummation of the divine building, the New Jerusalem is a mutual abode produced by the building of divinity into humanity and of humanity into divinity—John 15:4a:
      1. The New Jerusalem is built by God’s constituting Himself into man to make man the same as He is in life and in nature but not in the Godhead so that God and man may become a corporate entity—Rev. 21:18-21:
         1. All the components have the same life, nature, and composition and thus are a corporate person.
         2. God and man, man and God, are united, mingled, and incorporated together; this is the consummation of God’s building.
      2. The New Jerusalem is a constitution of God and man and man and God, who are constituted into one to become a mutual dwelling place—vv. 3, 22:
         1. The One who is God yet man dwells in the one who is man yet God, and the one who is man yet God dwells in the One who is God yet man.
         2. This mutual dwelling place is divinity expressed in humanity and humanity glorified in divinity, with the divine glory shining forth with great splendor radiantly in humanity—vv. 11, 23.
3. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the divine romance—a universal couple, “a loving pair eternally”—Rev. 22:17:
   1. The subject of the Bible is a divine romance of a universal couple; the male is God Himself, and the female is God’s chosen and redeemed people— Gen. 2:21-24; Isa. 54:5; Jer. 2:2; 3:1, 14; 31:32; Ezek. 16:8; 23:5; Hosea 2:7, 19; Matt. 9:15; John 3:29; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:25-32; Rev. 19:7.
   2. The divine romance is portrayed poetically in Song of Songs—1:2; 8:14:
      1. The seeker passes through a process to become the Shulammite, the duplication of Solomon and a figure of the New Jerusalem— 6:13, 4.
      2. The New Jerusalem will be a corporate Shulammite, including all of God’s chosen and redeemed people.
   3. Christ’s espousal and marriage life cover the church age, the kingdom age, and the eternal age:
      1. In the church age we are betrothed to Christ— 2 Cor. 11:2.
      2. The wedding day will be the age of the millennial kingdom—Rev. 19:7.
      3. The marriage life will be in the New Jerusalem for eternity—21:2, 9-10.
   4. According to its humanity the New Jerusalem is the human wife (with the divine life and nature) of the Lamb, and according to its divinity the New Jerusalem is the divine Husband (the redeeming God in His consummated embodiment, Christ, with His human life and nature) of God’s redeemed elect.
   5. Revelation 22:17 indicates that Christ and the New Jerusalem as His wife will be a universal couple for eternity:
      1. The Spirit, who is the totality of the processed and consummated Triune God, becomes one with the believers, who are now fully matured to be the bride—21:2, 9-10.
      2. The consummation of the processed and consummated Triune God and the consummation of God’s regenerated, transformed, and glorified people will be a universal couple expressing the Triune God for eternity— vv. 11, 23.