In this ultimate consummation we must also see that the Trinity is the entrance. The three gates on each side (Rev. 21:13) signify the entrance through the Triune God. Luke 15 shows us this three-fold entrance. The Son came to redeem (v. 4), the Spirit came to seek and find the lost one and to bring him back to the Father (v. 8), and lastly the Father receives the lost one back to Himself (v. 20). The Son’s redeeming, the Spirit’s seeking, and the Father’s receiving are a complete entrance into the New Jerusalem. We can also see these three gates in 1 Peter 1:2. We were selected according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. God the Father’s selection is the initiation; God the Spirit’s sanctification carries out the selection of God the Father; and God the Son’s redemption, signified by His sprinkled blood, is the completion. This again is the three gates of the Trinity. Another reference to the Triune God being our entrance into the holy city is Ephesians 2:18 which says, “For through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father.” The second point of the Trinity in the New Jerusalem is that the Trinity is the intrinsic element as the gold, the pearl, and the precious stones for the building up and the constitution of this ultimate consummation. Third, the Trinity in this ultimate consummation is for the living of God’s redeemed ones. They walk on the golden street, feed on the tree of life, and drink of the water of life. Fourth, the Trinity is also for their enjoyment. To enjoy the Triune God is to be enlightened, to be fed, and to be satisfied. God the Father is the light of life, God the Son is the tree of life, and God the Spirit is the water of life for the enjoyment of His chosen and redeemed people. Finally, a more basic item of the Trinity in the New Jerusalem is that He is God our Creator, the Lamb our Redeemer, and the Spirit as the river of the water of life, our Regenerator. As a human being you need to pass through these three steps: created, redeemed, and regenerated. We can at least see these five aspects of the Divine Trinity in the New Jerusalem. The Divine Trinity is for our being, the Divine Trinity is for our entry into this ultimate consummation, the Divine Trinity is for the building up, the constitution of such an ultimate consummation, and finally, the Divine Trinity is for our living and for our enjoyment.
Second Corinthians 13:14 also shows us something concerning the enjoyment of the Divine Trinity: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” The fellowship of the Spirit is the flow of the river. The grace of Christ is the tree of life for our supply, and the love of God is just like the light of God. Love is the nature of God’s essence. Light is the nature of God’s expression. Both love and light are the nature of what God is.
The New Testament tells us four main things concerning what God is: God is Spirit (John 4:24), God is life (John 1:4; 10:10; 14:6), God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), and God is light (1 John 1:5). These four items are fully covered in the notes of the Recovery Version of the Epistles of John. I am concerned that some of you were in the training on these Epistles, but you still do not know what the Spirit, love, light, and life are. Let us read part of note 53 in 1 John chapter 1 to see what these terms mean:
Expressions such as God is light, God is love (4:8, 16), and God is Spirit (John 4:24) are not used in a metaphoric sense but in a predicative sense. They denote and describe the nature of God. In His nature, God is Spirit, love, and light. Spirit denotes the nature of God’s person; love, the nature of God’s essence; and light, the nature of God’s expression. Both love and light are related to God as life, which life is of the Spirit (Rom. 8:2). God, Spirit, and life are actually one. God is Spirit and Spirit is life. Within this life are love and light. When the divine love appears to us, it becomes grace, and when the divine light shines on us, it becomes truth.
These terms are clearly defined and covered in this note, but many of you never got into it. Therefore, this has not become your capital in your ministry. You do not have this basic realization within your being. Then when you minister the Word to God’s people you do not have the rich capital. As a result, you are short of feelings, short of thoughts, short of words, short of points, and short of expression. Thus, your speaking is poor without anything interesting to people. But if you are equipped and enriched within your being you know that the Spirit denotes the nature of God’s person in John 4:24, love denotes the nature of God’s essence, and that light denotes the nature of God’s expression. God’s life is also carried by God’s Spirit and within this life are love and light. This is clear and this is rich. You must be saturated with this kind of knowledge. You should soak yourself in these things. If you would stay in this note for one day, you would never forget it. I am concerned that such a note is here in the Recovery Version, yet you would disregard it and go to other books.
This kind of knowledge is not merely objective. The more you would read this note the more you would be nourished. Then when you minister to people they would receive some nourishment. We could preach four or five messages out of this one note for our gospel preaching, telling people that our God is not like the idols. The nature of our God’s person is Spirit. This provides good material for gospel preaching. Many of us preach from the traditional concept that God loves the world and that the sinners are going to hell. It is true that God loves us but there is nothing fresh, nothing new and nothing interesting in this for people. We can tell people how God in nature is Spirit, and how God who is Spirit in nature is also love. You not only tell people that God loves them but you also need to tell them that God is love, which is the nature of His essence. Then you need to tell them that God is light in His expression, and this God who is light is also life.
The entire Bible is the gospel and especially the book of Romans in its entirety is the gospel. However, we have never been taught, educated, or raised up in this way. We have neither been saturated in or equipped with all these divine truths. These things have not become a part of our being. Our entire being needs to be reconstituted with all these things until they become our constituent. Then our preaching will be very much strengthened and enriched. We will preach something intrinsically essential and we will be teaching the basic revelation in the Holy Scriptures. This is the New Testament ministry. Do not go to study the so-called theology. That is too superficial. Hardly any of these teachings get into the intrinsic nature of the divine person and His divine work. The New Testament ministry is absolutely different from this. The vision that the Lord has given us in His recovery is following the New Testament ministry; it is not following traditional theology. Many people with a Ph.D. in theology would not be able to tell you what it means to say that God is Spirit, God is love, God is light, and God is life. This is why I strongly urge you not to leave the “diamonds” the Lord has given to us on your bookshelf and spend your time on other writings. To spend your money and time in other books is a waste when you compare this with spending your time on the precious things the Lord has shown us which are there in the notes of the Recovery Version and in the Life-study messages.
Please do not consider my word as a rebuke or as a warning. I hope you realize that my word is a word of love. I love the churches, I love all the saints, and I love you all. I do not like to see your time, money, and energy wasted. To teach and to preach things other than the New Testament ministry itself delays people and to some extent it holds them back, distracts them, and misleads them. I do not like to see this. My heart is broken. I like to see you redeem your time, save your energy, and save your money so that you may save others’ time. One message which is not in the central lane of the New Testament ministry wastes a lot of energy and a lot of time for the saints. They must listen to you and they must read your writings. This could waste their time and maybe mislead and distract them. At least it holds them back. This is why I was so burdened to call this urgent gathering. We must stop any kind of traditional ministry. We must come back to the unique New Testament ministry which the Lord has shown us in the past sixty years. This has become our vision. This is a word of love. I have no intention to rebuke you, to discredit you, or to condemn you. I do not even have the intention to warn you. That is not my business and that is not my heart. My heart is just that I love you brothers. You have consecrated your entire future to take this way. Why do you need to waste your time and thus waste others’ time? Others must listen to you and read your materials and they get the wrong impression. You must consider how to save the saints’ time. Do not give them anything that will hold them back. We must consider what we speak in the meetings and what we write and publish in print. We must consider whether this material would take the saints on speedily or would hold them back, distract them, or mislead them. We are not living in Martin Luther’s time. We are living at the end of the twentieth century and the Lord’s recovery has passed through so many centuries already. In these last sixty years the Lord has shown us many things and we have done our best to put these into print. These things should not remain on your bookshelves while you go back to the old writings. This is not wise. My love would not allow me to be silent. This is why we are here. I hope that all of you would accept this word and drop the old things and go forward.