Now we come to the last two chapters of the Bible where we find the ultimate consummation of God’s intention. God’s intention will have a consummation, which will be the New Jerusalem, the consummate tabernacle of God as His Bride (Rev. 21:2-3), bearing His glorious image to express Him (Rev. 21:11). In that consummation, there is no more mud, no more dust. The New Jerusalem is built of gold, pearl, and precious stones (Rev. 21:18-21). All the dust and mud have been transformed. In Revelation we can see the same things as in Genesis—gold, pearls, and precious stones. The only difference is this: the bdellium in Genesis 2 is a kind of resin, a gum congealed into a plant pearl. This means it is a kind of pearl which comes from the produce of the plant. But the pearls in Revelation 21 are pearls from the animal oyster. In Genesis it came from the plant, and in Revelation it will come from the produce of the animal. Plant life in the Bible signifies the producing life of Christ, and animal life signifies the redeeming life of Christ. In Genesis 2 there was no fall of man and no sin, so there was no need of redeeming. But in Revelation after the fall and after sin had entered there was the need of the redeeming life of the animal. That is the significance of the death and resurrection of God the Son.
The New Jerusalem will be built up with God the Father’s divine nature, with God the Son’s death and resurrection, and with God the Spirit’s transformation. That will be the universal Bride to satisfy God’s desire for His eternal expression. This is the consummation of God’s intention. In the first two chapters of the Bible there is God’s intention, and in the last two chapters of the Bible there is the consummation of God’s intention. Both sections show you the goal of God’s dispensation, a Bride to be His counterpart, His expression. God’s dispensation began from Adam and has been going on through all the generations. It will consummate in the New Jerusalem where we can see the goal of God’s dispensation. Today we need to contact the Triune God to be supplied and nourished with the divine life as the river of water of life and as the tree of life (Rev. 22:1-2), that we might be transformed with the Father’s golden nature through the Son’s death and resurrection and by the work of God the Spirit. We need to cooperate with the Triune God.