Message Eleven

The New Jerusalem—
the Ultimate Consummation
(3)
The Triune God as Our Entrance,
Constitution, and Existence

Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:12-13, 18-21; 22:1

1. The three gates on each of the four sides of the holy city signify that the Triune God is the triune entrance into the New Jerusalem—Rev. 21:12-13, 21:
   1. That there are three gates on each side signifies that the three of the Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—work together to bring people into the holy city—cf. 5:9:
      1. The Son’s redeeming, the Spirit’s seeking, and the Father’s receiving are a complete entrance into the Father’s house, the church, consummating in the New Jerusalem—Luke 15; John 14:2; 1 Tim. 3:15; Rev. 21:3, 22.
      2. To be baptized into the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is the real entrance into the holy city—Matt. 28:19.
      3. Through God the Father’s selection as the initiation, God the Spirit’s sanctification to carry out the selection of the Father, and God the Son’s redemption as the completion, we enter into the enjoyment of the Triune God, the enjoyment of the New Jerusalem—1 Pet. 1:2; Rev. 22:14.
   2. Through God the Son, who is the Accomplisher, the means, and in God the Spirit, who is the Executor, the application, we have access unto God the Father, who is the Originator, the source of our enjoyment—Eph. 2:18.
   3. We need to pray to the Father as the source to be strengthened through the Spirit as the means for the goal of Christ making His home in our hearts that we may be filled unto all the fullness of the Triune God, which is our complete entering into the Triune God for His full expression as the New Jerusalem—Eph. 3:14-19.
2. The three kinds of precious materials for the building of the holy city signify that the Triune God is the triune constitution of the New Jerusalem—Rev. 21:18-21:
   1. Gold signifies God the Father in His holy nature as the base of God’s organic building—vv. 18, 21:
      1. We need to partake of and be constituted with the holy and divine nature of God, the divine element of the New Jerusalem—Eph. 1:4; 2 Pet. 1:4.
      2. We have to do everything according to the divine nature of God, taking the divine nature as our pathway, to be under the ruling of God’s golden administration—Rev. 21:21; 22:1; cf. 1 Kings 10:18:
         1. The divine life flowing in the divine nature is the unique way for our daily life and for our move in the Lord’s move— cf. Eph. 4:29; Rev. 22:1.
         2. We need to practice the divine fellowship based upon the golden nature within us— 1 John 1:3.
   2. Pearls signify the issue of Christ’s secretion in two aspects—His redeeming and life-releasing death and His life-dispensing resurrection—Rev. 21:21:
      1. We have to daily experience the death of Christ subjectively by the power of Christ’s resurrection that we may be conformed to the death of Christ—Phil. 3:10; 1 Cor. 15:31b; Gal. 6:17-18; cf. S. S. 2:8-9, 14-15.
      2. We have 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; Rom. 8:29.
      3. We need to preach regeneration through the death-overcoming and life-secreting Christ as the entrance into the holy city—1 Pet. 1:3, 23.
      4. We need to remain under the killing of the Lord’s death so that His resurrection life may be imparted through us into others—Col. 1:24; 2 Cor. 4:10-12.
   3. Precious stones signify the Spirit’s work to transform the redeemed and regenerated saints for the building of God’s eternal habitation that they may express God corporately in His all-permeating glory—Rev. 21:18-20:
      1. Transformation is not an outward change or correction, but spiritual metabolism; it is the metabolic function of the life of God in the believers—Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18, 16.
      2. 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 must learn to minister the Triune God to others for their transformation by perfecting them with the attributes of the Triune God— 1 Cor. 3:10, 12; S. S. 1:10-11.
3. The river of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb signifies that the Triune God is the triune existence of the New Jerusalem—Rev. 22:1:
   1. God the Father is our Creator, God the Son is our Redeemer, and God the Spirit is our Regenerator to give us a triune existence—Rev. 22:1; Gen. 2:7; John 1:29; 3:6.
   2. The application of the New Jerusalem in its triune existence is described in Ephesians 4:4-6, which shows us how the Body of Christ exists with the Father, the Lord, and the Spirit as a foretaste of the existence of the New Jerusalem in eternity:
      1. We are existing with God the Father as the source of the Body, allowing Him to be over us, through us, and in us—v. 6; Luke 8:15; Rom. 8:11.
      2. We are existing with the Lord Christ as the element of the Body, living Him, existing by Him, through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ for His magnification in our existence—Eph. 4:5; Phil. 1:19-21a.
      3. We are existing with the Spirit as the essence of the Body (Eph. 4:4)—walking by the Spirit (Gal. 5:25), serving by the Spirit (Phil. 3:3), drinking the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13), being transformed by the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18), and being strengthened and enriched by the sevenfold intensified Spirit (Rev. 4:5; 5:6) for the Body life, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem.